Kingdom Hearts One Shots
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: Random stories involving characters from Kingdom Hearts. Warning: characters may be out of character, it might have OC's, plenty of spoilers, and may be taken in any context. Also, chances are it won't follow canon.
1. Kingdom Hearts: Sharing

**Well, this is my random fics section, where none of the "arcs" are longer than a chapter. They're going to be random, funny, serious and all the good stuff that I'm hoping will get me back to writing normally again. They'll be featuring most (all, possibly) of the characters from Kingdom Hearts I, II, 358/2 Days, and Birth By Sleep. And possibly even from Dream Drop Distance. Which I want. BADLY.**

**Disclaimers: All Kingdom Hearts, Disney or Square Enix things, places and people to show up in this fic do not, in any way, belong to me.**

**So, first on the list is one of my favorite pairings, Sora and Kairi!**

* * *

><p>Sora shifts nervously on his perch at the end of the pier, trying very hard not to eye the equally as nervous red head in front of him. Both Kairi and Sora were fidgeting nervous and smiling in excitement as Sora holds up the fruit that had been in his lap.<p>

At the mere sight of the paopu, Kairi flushes bright red as she hands over the knife that she had snuck out of her house. Sora accepts it, and with a trembling hand, cuts the fruit neatly down the middle.

"So… it's finally come down to this, huh, Sora?" Kairi says with a gently smile which immediately sends Sora into a blushing fit as he nods jerkily, expressing just how nervous he really was. After all, on their small island home, a paopu had great significance. Especially if you shared it with someone you cared about.

Selphie's words echo in his head mockingly, making him blush even harder.

'_**If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what'**_

"_Well, that's one heck of a responsibility," _Sora thinks to himself nervously, wondering if he even wanted to share one with her now. He could always do it later, when they were actually going out. Did Kairi even _**want **_to share one with him? Was this just a way to play with his feelings?

Sora steals a glance over at Kairi, suddenly suspicious of the girl he cared so much for. The second he does so, however, she smiles so brightly at him that his worries melt away in an instant. He grins cheerfully at her and holds up his half of the paopu.

"Well, here we go. You wanna back out of it, now's the time." Sora says with a chuckle, making Kairi laugh as she gives him a playful wink.

"And why would I want to do that?" She demands in a soft voice, smiling that same dazzling smile at him. Sora nods in excitement, putting the paopu slice up to his lips, ready to take a bite-

"HEY, SORA!" An excited voice shouts as Sora suddenly skids forward from the inertia from the kid who had just tackled him. Both he and Tidus tumble down into the water, very nearly smacking their heads on the wooden posts of the pier. When they finally came back up, the duo was fighting viciously and trying desperately to stay afloat even as Tidus was smacking Sora with his pole and Sora was slapping Tidus to make him let go of him.

"Hey, man! Tidus, ya shouldn't be fightin' like that! Ya can't be fightin' with your bruddas and sistas like that, man. It ain't nice." Wakka scolds as he grabs Tidus by the scruff of his shirt, ignoring that the little blonde was kicking and flailing like crazy in order to get back to his "rival", Sora. Sora spits out a spurt of water, glaring at the small group up on the pier violently. Selphie, the resident romantic of the group, was chatting excitedly with Kairi who was blushing and trying to help Sora out of the water. Tidus and Wakka were arguing on whether or not they "interrupted" something important. However, Sora's eyes are quickly focused on one, smirking individual in particular.

"Have a nice swim?" Riku comments with a wickedly mischievous smile as he holds out a hand to help Sora back up onto the pier. As Sora takes his best friend's hand, he knew for a fact that Riku had staged the whole stunt to keep him from sharing the paopu with Kairi.

Sometimes Sora just couldn't win.


	2. 358 2 Days: Axel's Problem

**I really have no idea about this one.**

**I think it was inspired by a comic I saw, which I thought was funny.**

**Disclaimer: 358/2 Days is not mine.**

**AND NO THIS IS NOT YAOI!**

**This is exactly how I would react with friends of mine!**

**Except, you know, I'm not as innocent as Roxas is.**

**Besides… I think the idea of Roxas tickling Axel is funny.**

* * *

><p>Roxas stares at Axel in concern, wondering just why the normally cheerful and somewhat hyper pyromaniac was lying down on his bed, looking absolutely miserable. He wasn't even making little fires or making holes in the comforter, two of his favorite pastimes. Most of all, Roxas wanted to know why the hell Axel was in his room, reading his manga and eating his chips. Cause Roxas loved barbeque chips and he didn't like to share unless it was ordered by something like the law.<p>

"Axel? Are you alright?" Roxas asks, wondering just what would be the politest way to kick him out of his room before he burned something up again. Axel looks at him mournfully, sighing miserable. He idly scratches at one of the tattoos on his face (at least… Roxas thought it was a tattoo; no one was really sure) and sighs.

"Yeah. I'm okay." Axel says in an abnormally calm voice, sighing again as he flips a page in the magazine he was reading. He didn't even look all that interested in it, it was more like he was just keeping busy.

"… You sure?" Roxas asks, wondering if maybe he had a chance at making his friend feel better.

He decides to try, even if this ended up being a little awkward. After all, this tactic usually worked with Xion.

Roxas sits down on the bed and moves closer to Axel. He stares at him for a moment before very carefully pulling off his black gloves and dropping them on the floor. Axel notices this and stares at him in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Axel asks before Roxas tackles him, running his fingers up and down Axel's sides in what is commonly known as tickling. Axel lets out a high-pitched scream of laughter, wiggling like crazy in order to get away from him. Roxas grins in amusement, going after his friend mercilessly. When Axel tries to shove him off, Roxas takes advantage of his movement in order to jam his fingers into Axel's armpits, which was actually an extremely ticklish spot. Axel just starts screaming that much louder.

"ALRIGHT! I GIVE, I GIVE!" Axel shrieks, completely breathless from laughing so hysterically.

"So are you gonna tell me or not?" Roxas demands, poised ready to start tickling again. Axel gives out a few tired breaths before nodding.

"Alright. Geez… you didn't have to do that, you know." Axel complains as Roxas lets go of him and sits back up on his bed. He looks over at Axel eagerly, his inquisitive

blue eyes already brimming with curiosity. Axel groans.

"… Well?" Roxas asks eagerly. Axel, for some reason, blushes, and motions him to come closer. When Roxas does, Axel whispers something to him quietly.

* * *

><p>"Um, Saïx?" Roxas asks curiously, shuffling his feet nervously as he stares up at the older Organization member.<p>

Saïx stares at him disdainfully before asking: "What is it, XIII?" in a formal and cool voice. Roxas looks around, checking to see if the other members in the Gray Room were listening. When he knows that they weren't, he leans up to whisper into Saïx's ear quietly: "… What does getting laid mean? And what does it have to do with women?"


	3. Birth By Sleep: Hareraiser

**Ah… this part of the game just really got me.**

**I mean, what the hell is up with this thing? It made laugh hysterically when I saw it. And then it attacked me and I was in shock.**

**So this is my reason why it was made.**

**Disclaimers: Birth By Sleep does not belong to me. Small spoiler alert for you guys who haven't played the game!**

**Yes, I know Vanitas doesn't act like this. But this is why I think that this Unversed was created. Besides… who doesn't like bunnies?**

* * *

><p>Master Xehanort stares at his disciple, wondering just what the hell he thought he was doing. Vanitas, normally the most serious and actually one of the most frightening people he could think of, was crouching down by a hole in the ground, trying to look inside. Considering that he had that huge helmet on, this was proving to be very difficult for him.<p>

Master Xehanort could almost picture the exasperated look on his pupil's face, and how angrily his dark golden eyes must be glaring down into that hole. But the big question was… what was he actually doing?

"Vanitas-" Master Xehanort says in a calm voice but then, the boy did something completely unexpected. Vanitas rips his helmet off, glares at his master and makes a shushing noise, just before dropping his helmet on the ground and going back to glare inside the dusty hole. The Master couldn't believe what he had just done.

"Did you just shush me?" Master Xehanort demands angrily but then Vanitas does it again, this time even louder.

"SHH!" The boy snarls irritably, scowling in an angry way as he looks back into the hole. Well, at this time, Master Xehanort had had enough. He grabs his pupil by the shoulder, yanking him up violently to glare at him.

"Now listen here, young man! You are the student and I am the mas-" He starts to shout when Vanitas suddenly whips back around, scrabbling inside of the hole desperately. However, in a matter of minutes, he lets out an angry shout.

"YOU LET IT GET AWAY!" Vanitas growls as he stands back up, brushing the dust off of his suit in annoyance. When Master Xehanort looks closely, he suddenly notices a small gray rabbit sticking its head up from the hole, checking to see if its surroundings were safe. However, when Vanitas looks at it desperately, it jumps back into its burrow and quickly disappears.

"Why are you trying to catch a rabbit?" Master Xehanort asks in confusion. Vanitas turns away from him, flushing in embarrassment. He mumbles something quietly, scuffling his feet quietly against the dirt.

"What was that?" Master Xehanort snaps, making Vanitas immediately straighten up.

"… I wanted a pet." Vanitas admits again, blushing even harder as Master Xehanort stares at him in shock. He vaguely remembered Ventus, who had been his apprentice before Vanitas, once chasing a wild rabbit for nearly half a mile before actually managing to catch the mangy thing and making it his pet. He had named it "Captain Fluffy". It was pronounced with a French accent. Xehanort also remembered just how mortified Ventus had been when he had tried to eat the rabbit.

"You want a pet. A rabbit." Master Xehanort repeats in shock as Vanitas nods defiantly. He glares at his master angrily, as if daring him to say otherwise.

"And where the hell do you think you'll be keeping this rabbit?" Master Xehanort demands. Vanitas shrugs, picking up his helmet and dusting it off carefully before presenting it back to his master hopefully.

"You are NOT keeping a rabbit in there. It'll die. Besides, what's wrong with the Unversed? You like the Unversed." Master Xehanort bargains carefully. Vanitas immediately scowls, obviously hating the idea.

"The Unversed are boring." He states in a monotone voice, shrugging in boredom. Apparently, Vanitas had already gotten tired of the monsters he was able to create at will. It only took a little bit of imagination to make them, and Vanitas had plenty of that. Master Xehanort rubs his temples in pain, remembering just how much his pupil had laughed, maniacally no less, at how his gorilla-like Wild Bruiser Unversed had managed to send him flying. It had taken weeks for the back pain to go away completely.

"Then make a new one." He snaps, grabbing his pupil by the arm again, dragging him back to the campfire angrily. Reluctantly being dragged behind his master, Vanitas takes one last longing look at the rabbit hole before picking up the pace and turning back to the campfire.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, Master Xehanort eagerly lights his pipe, sucking in a long draught of smoke as he stares up at the night sky. He smiles coldly, remember how the stars from his home world had looked like, so long ago. He sighs, content to have a full stomach and to have Vanitas quiet and submissive at his side.<p>

Vanitas on the other hand, was very bored. He stares longingly at the ground, knowing that if he had waited a few more minutes, he could have caught that stupid rabbit. Then he sits up in mild anticipation, a very rare smile crossing his lips as he remembers his Master's words. He holds his hand out in front of him, closing his eyes to concentrate.

"Ah, my boy… this is the life. If only we-… Vanitas?" Master Xehanort asks in confusion as he turns around to see his pupil glowing faintly purple in the darkness. He smiles eagerly; this only happened once in a short while, when Vanitas was creating a new kind of Unversed. The moment that Vanitas opened his eyes, the new creature would be born.

Vanitas opens his eyes, a wild cry of insane laughter emerging from his lips as the purplish smoke suddenly materializes into a solid shape. As the smoke cleared, he let out a wild whoop of happiness.

Master Xehanort on the other hand, stares at him in horror.

"YOU MADE A **_RABBIT _**UNVERSED?" He screams angrily, jabbing a long crooked finger at the fledging Unversed, which was making soft noises as it tried to hop around clumsily. Vanitas nods and smiles in a pleased way.

"Yes. It is… It is a Hareraiser." Vanitas names it quietly, giving the small violet-colored creature a gentle pat on the head, stroking its long floppy ears carefully. It curls up next to him, rubbing its head against his palm almost lovingly.

"GET RID OF IT-!" Master Xehanort, in giving the small, seemingly defenseless creature a furious kick, suddenly shrieks in horror as the small Unversed turns against him, narrowing its red eyes at him angrily. It hops to him, swings its head around for a moment before sending him flying with a single powerful flick of its head, smacking him practically into the fire with its long floppy ears.

"I think I like you. Let's be friends." Vanitas tells it quietly, picking it up and cradling the tiny rabbit-like creature to his chest gently.

Master Xehanort groans in pain, feeling his back pop in several places where it wasn't supposed to pop.

Sometimes, he really, really hated the Unversed.


	4. 358 2 Days: Goodbyes

**Ha, I'm on a roll with these!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine and neither are the characters.**

**I just enjoy writing about them.**

**I believe that Demyx and Xion might have had a few missions together off screen, so maybe he kinda liked her as a friend. But they weren't exactly close.**

**So, this chapter's about the relationship I think they might have shared.**

**Anyway, this is shortly AFTER Xion's death, so everyone's starting to forget about her. They never did mention just how the Organization forgot.**

* * *

><p>Xigbar stares at the chessboard, biting his lip in concentration as he very carefully moves his black<p>

pawn up a space. Xaldin smirks, immediately capturing said pawn by deftly moving his knight to take that space. Xigbar glares at him violently.

"Okay, that's it! I'm gonna-" Xigbar starts to snarl when suddenly, Demyx, who was sitting on the couch besides them, lets out a mournful sight. Xigbar suddenly turns to him, immediately wondering what was wrong with the normally hyper and cheerful teenager. Xaldin on the other hand, keeps focusing on the game, having nothing better to do. Demyx just twiddles with his Arpeggio sitar, tweaking one of the pegs in what seemed like a sad way.

"Hey. What's up, Dem?" Xigbar asks, turning back to the chessboard, not really caring. Demyx sighs again, lying down on the couch and cradling the sitar to his chest sadly. He puts his gloved hand to his heart. Or at least, where he thought his heart was.

"Enough games, Number IX." Xaldin snaps angrily, swearing violently as Xigbar knocks over his white queen, giving him a cocky grin in exchange for taking the piece.

"… I miss her." He admits quietly, looking up at the white ceiling and sighing. Xigbar looks at him curiously.

"Who? What, Larxene? Forget about that witch. Heh, I already have." He chuckles, quickly flicking away another of Xaldin's pieces as he inches forward towards his King. But Demyx shakes his head no.

"No. Not her. The other girl, the one that left after Larxene. Don't cha remember her?" He says, sitting up and staring at his two comrades in confusion. This time, both Xaldin and Xigbar look up at him in confusion, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Xaldin demands, glaring at the blonde in confusion. Demyx looks at them in horror.

"You know! The other girl in the Organization! Whatshername-… I… I can't remember." Demyx stammers out, staring at himself in shock. Xigbar raises an eyebrow, staring at him, too. Demyx had very few valuable qualities, one of which was a near-perfect memory. If he said that he remembered something, it was a 9 out 10 chance that he was right.

"Are you dreaming while awake again?" Xaldin asks irritably, snatching one of Xigbar's pawns and throwing it back into the game box. There were very few things to do in the Castle That Never Was and unfortunately, chess was one of them. One of the others, apparently, was to hallucinate women.

"I can't remember her! The memories are fading! Her name's…. her name's…" Demyx says in a panic, clutching at his head in pain. Xigbar and Xaldin look at each other, shrugging as Demyx bursts into tears, rocking himself gently on the edge of the couch.

Just when they're deciding to go get the Superior or at the very least, someone to smack some sense into him, Demyx suddenly stops and looks around in confusion.

"Why am I crying?" He asks, rubbing his mane of messy sandy hair in bewilderment. As he starts to get up, a single tear falls and splashes to the ground, in memory of the missing number.

'_Good-bye, Xion.'_


	5. Kingdom Hearts: Hallow Bastion

**By the gods, this scene always pissed me the hell off.**

**Sora, you poor kid, I became your fan just cause of this one scene.**

**Riku, I started hating you cause of this scene, you f-ing jerk!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine and neither are the characters. Anyway, the Beast belongs to Disney. Fun Fact: He actually doesn't have a real name!**

**That's right, the Beast was never named.**

**Interesting what details get overlooked, huh?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this.<strong>_

Sora stares at the wooden sword in pain, remembering the day that he and Riku had spent making it and another sword. He chokes back a sob as he remembers that far-off day and he wishes bitterly that he could go back to it, back to the days that Riku was his friend. He also wished that Donald and Goofy hadn't abandoned him. What was he supposed to do now? He was all alone now.

He had only made it this far because of his friends.

As he's just about ready to give into his despair, he suddenly hears a series of lumbering, pained footsteps nearby. The mysterious creature's long black nails click awkwardly against the cobblestone path as he stumbles forward. Sora looks up at him in mild surprise, watching him as he collapses to his knees. He seemed to be injured from Riku's attack.

Even so, it was continuing.

Sora immediately gets up, leaving behind the wooden sword as he runs to the creature's side, carefully putting a hand on its shoulder. He feels the somehow silky and soft fabric of the creature's purple cape but quickly disregards it.

"Hey, don't move. You're hurt." Sora tells it cautiously. It gives him a glare, quickly unnerving the normally hyper and cheerful Keybla… boy.

"Why... Why did you...you come here? I came to fight for Belle." The creature says bluntly, forcing himself (the deep voice coming from his throat could only belong to a male) to stand up on his hind feet. He holds his head up proudly and continues his speech, "And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here." The Beast stammers out, walking forward, determined to fight on. Without saying anything, Sora turns around and picks up his old wooden sword calmly. He figures that it's better than having no weapon at all.

"Me too. I'm not gonna give up now. I came here to find someone very important to me." Sora says in a determined voice, his sapphire eyes burning with anxiety for both his beloved friend Kairi and for Riku, Donald and Goofy, the friends who had supposedly betrayed him. Even now, he was still worried about them. They were his friends, his power, and his reason to keep on fighting, even if he didn't understand their friendship very well.

The creature bows his head to him, a faint smile on his lips.

"My name's Sora. What's yours?" Sora asks calmly, holding his gloved hand out to him in greetings. Silently, the creature puts a heavy paw onto the young boy's hand, clasping it tightly.

"I am the Beast." He states simply, turning to the rising waterfalls in order to look for a way off their platform and into the Castle.

Sora smiles.

Maybe he wasn't alone after all.


	6. Chain Of Memories: Namine's Discovery

**Alright, since I'm on a roll with these… and cause they're fun to do, I decided to keep going!**

**Disclaimers: Chain of Memories isn't mine either. I forgot to put that in the beginning of the first "arc".**

**And yes, I am of the opinion Naminé was tortured in Castle Oblivion. So there. And I think this is actually the shortest one I've done so far.**

* * *

><p>Naminé sits quietly at the table, looking over the once pristine pages scattered all over the room. Her sapphire eyes fill up with hot tears as she silently picks the torn and battered notebook from the ground. She notices that all the sheets of paper inside had been torn out, flung around the room in one last fit of fury by the intimidating Larxene.<p>

Naminé shivers slightly, glad for once that she wouldn't be hurt by that cruel woman. She rubs her arms to get rid of the goosebumps that had suddenly risen up on her pale skin. She picks up another sheet of paper, noticing the large dirty footprint on it and the bright pink petals sprinkled around it.

She sighs sadly, glad that she wouldn't be hurt by Marluxia anymore either. She was tired of having her skin nearly sliced off by that sickening scythe of his. Or being electrocuted by Larxene's sharp daggers. In fact, she was tired of being hurt in general.

She was happy to be leaving, even if she thought that Riku was a bit creepy and that DiZ man was an insane maniac. She could forgive them for that, since she was kind of to blame for a large portion of their misfortunes. She was even to blame for the fact that Riku's best friend (and his dog and duck companions) were currently sleeping inside of a trio of giant eggs. That one was a little hard to explain. But it happens, right?

As she piles up the old drawings neatly in a stack on the table, she notices one more thing about her prison room. Now that she was leaving it, to go somewhere else far away, she couldn't help but notice this.

Naminé picks up the top drawing from the stack, observes the crude figures in it critically and sighs. She turns it one way then the other before admitting to the fact. She could deny it no longer.

She really, _**really**_ sucked at drawing.


	7. Birth By Sleep: Context

**Okay, so me and my sister… Let's call her Luna, were sitting in the car, waiting to go to church. And because of this, I was flicking through my pictures on my MP3 and I showed her one of little Riku and Terra.**

**This is where this story was inspired.**

**Disclaimers: Birth By Sleep, the original picture (I can't remember who drew it), and my sister's brain (cause my mom would kill me if I dismembered my sister!) do not belong to me. By the way, spoiler alert for you guys who A, don't have this game or b, haven't gotten this far.**

**By the way, we have very strange minds. Especially me. **

**And yes, this cutscene actually sounds pretty wrong if you think about it from a certain perspective. And it's freaking hilarious to think that Terra would ACTUALLY get in trouble for a child's words. Cause kids say the darnest things, don't you think?**

**With that in mind, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>As Terra sits in the small, cramped jail cell of the Destiny Island prison, he couldn't help but think that this was all his fault. He really, really should have thought this through. After all, he had just randomly decided to just give a Keyblade to some little kid he met on the beach. Never mind that he thought that maybe he should be taking his medication again.<p>

What was up with that hallucination of an older… never mind, that didn't matter. What he needed to do was somehow get out of his jail cell and back to fight Master Xehanort once and for all.

"Hey, scumbag! You got a visitor!" One of the guards shouts angrily, glaring at Terra with disgust. Terra nods solemnly; he had gotten used to the glares after being locked up for nearly a week. As Terra looks up, he gulps nervously when he notices that it was the police officer that had arrested him in the first place. The officer glares at him, too, and runs a hand through a mane of spiky brown hair as he unlocks the cell door.

"Come on." He snaps coldly as he pulls Terra to his feet and drags him off.

* * *

><p>"… Riku, is this the man you saw on the beach?" The officer asks softly as the little boy munches on a popsicle, seemingly unimpressed by the tall man sitting in front of him in chains. Terra smiles nervously; this kid was the kid that he had performed the Keyblade Inheritance with and was now in fact, a future Keyblade Master.<p>

"Uh huh. Hi mister, what are you doing here?" Riku says calmly, still licking at his ice cream. He gives a small wave to Terra who gives him one back weakly.

"I got arrested…" Terra admits to the small boy quietly. Surprisingly, Riku gives him a smirk and shrugs.

"Well, that's what you get for trespassing where you're not supposed to go." He says bluntly before licking at the now exposed popsicle stick and shoving the wooden pole in his mouth like a toothpick.

It took a few seconds for Terra to process his words, before realizing that the boy meant his voyage into other words. Riku had apparently assumed that Terra had been arrested for "trespassing" onto the Islands.

"Uh…. I'll keep that in mind." Terra says with a blush as the officer smacks him in the head and looks at Riku solemnly.

"Now, will you explain what that man told you, Riku? And just what he did?" He asks in a soft and very concerned voice.

"… He said to keep it a secret." Riku says, making Terra flinch in horror. He _**HAD **_said that, but coming from such an innocent little boy, it almost made what Terra did sound _**WRONG**_. And from the dirty look that the brunet officer was giving him, it sounded as if they thought that Terra had done something horrible to Riku.

"… Well, I give you full permission to tell him! Come on, Riku, go ahead." Terra says quickly, hoping against hope that Riku would be able to help convince the adults of Destiny Island that he was innocent and to let him go.

Riku eyes him carefully before retorting:

"He let me hold his big Key."

From the horrified expression of the police officer, Terra knew he was screwed.


	8. 3582 Days: Good Point

**Gods, I'm silly.**

**Disclaimers: 358/2 Days is NOT mine. But making fun of it IS fun!**

* * *

><p>Xion gives Roxas an amused smirk, dangling her legs on her perch on the edge of the Clock Tower in Twilight Town. Already, Roxas's face was beginning to mimic the shade of the setting sun before them as his blushing intensifies with her questioning. The little girl couldn't help it. Roxas was just so fun to tease. Nibbling on the corner of her ice cream bar, she smirks cheerfully before asking: "So... Roxas... you remember Kairi and Sora, right?"<p>

Roxas gives her a disdainful glare, obviously not liking where this was going. He nods. " 'Course I remember who Kairi and Sora are, Xi. They're like our only friends outside the Organization. Besides, Sora **_IS_** my Other, remember? That... well," He takes a bite of his own ice cream, savoring the sweetly salty treat for a moment, allowing it to melt in his mouth a bit before continuing. "That makes it kinda hard to forget the guy. He's technically _**ME**_."

Xion nods at this, shrugging a bit.

"Good point! Anyway, I had a question to ask you. You've ever been to that cave on Destiny Islands?"

Roxas chokes on his ice cream bar at that point, gagging violently on the dessert that had turned traitor on him. Xion smacks him on the back, letting the young Nobody cough it out and giving him a few seconds to recover from choking before turning her inquisitive azure eyes on him, batting her eyelashes in a way that seemed completely innocent and very charming.

Roxas gives her a weak nod, not liking her "innocent" expression at all. She wanted something. She wanted something and it was going to be embarrassing.

"Well... Sora and Kairi drew this little picture in it. You've ever seen it?" Another nod from Roxas. "Well, it's them and they're giving each other Paopus! It's **_SOOO_** romantic... anyway... why don't YOU have a picture of you and Naminé giving each other Paopus, too?"

Roxas gives her a solemn look, blushing violently as he says quietly, feeling ashamed for thinking this way but totally standing by his opinion: "Cause Naminé sucks at drawing."

Needless to say, Xion's expression was absolutely priceless.


	9. Kingdom Hearts II: Poor Cloud

**Okay, this isn't neccessarily Kingdom Hearts.**

**I know, shocker.**

**But this is what I think might happen if Sora ever found out about the Geostigma in Advent Children.**

**Disclaimer: Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts are not mine. Thank you.**

* * *

><p>Cloud twitches angrily, glaring over at the abnormally silent brunet who was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs nearby. Yup. Sora was still staring. Cloud curls his hand into a fist, struggling to keep his temper underneath the Keyblade Master's sympathetic and pitying eyes. If Sora gave him <strong><em>ONE MORE<em>** puppy eyed look, he was going to take his Buster Sword and ram it up somewhere it **_HURT_**! … Wait, that didn't sound right.

"Poor Cloud." Sora says again for the fifteenth time in under five minutes. Yuffie nods solemnly, watching the older man with the same sad expression on her look as Sora's, sighing to herself. Her hands, normally occupied with her giant shuriken, were instead just hanging at her side, bunched up against her waist. In one hand, she carried a small yellow can.

Cloud chuckles softly; he was going to kill her too.

Silently, he reaches for a tea cup. The second that his skin touches the cool ceramic vessel, Yuffie springs up from her seat, instantly spraying the cup (and Cloud) with disinfectant. For the fifth time in under twenty minutes. Cloud yelps in pain, rubbing his eyes as the stinging cloud of spray circles around him, choking him with its fresh, lemony scent. God, he hated Leon!

Leon smirks.

"That's right, Yuffie. You get those Geostigma germs. Attagirl, Yuff." He says softly, chuckling quietly to himself. From the slightly amused expression on the scarred Gunblade master's face, he thought this was hysterical. Of course, that smug little smile was Leon's equivilant to rolling hysterically on the floor, sobbing with laughter. Which was probably why he even told Sora and Yuffie about the Geostigma. Cloud was going to kill him, too!

Cloud glances down at his arm, seeing the faint black mark beneath the red ribbon wrapped around his bicep. Of course, it was almost completely healed and the disease itself wasn't contagious but... the two kids looking at him with pity in their eyes didn't know that. Hence, Yuffie's can of Lysol.

Cloud growls angrily, keeping an eye on the clock. It was three fifty four. Just twenty six minutes for Aerith and Cid to come back from their shopping trip. Surely he could last that long.

"Poor Cloud... I feel so sorry for him." Sora says again as Yuffie nods in agreement and Leon's lips twitch into a smile again.

Cloud twitches angrily. Maybe not.

"God, Aerith, come home soon..." He growls under his breath as he reaches for the handle of the kitchen sink, preparing to wash his hands. The second that Yuffie stands up and runs over to him with her can of disinfectant, he punches her in the stomach, knocking the can out of her hands and sending the younger girl writhing in pain. He felt bad about it, but he was freakin' sick of her spraying him with Lysol!

Yuffie stares at him in horror before looking down at her stomach, exposing a newly formed bruise on her ribcage. Her eyes widen and she cries out, holding her stomach in shock: "SPIKE GAVE ME THE GEOSTIGMA! HE GAVE ME **_GEOSTIGMA_**!"

Sora, who had been going over to help Yuffie up, suddenly flinches away from her, backing away slowly as Yuffie stares at her bruise helplessly. In an instant, Sora runs out the door, shouting hysterically: "GET YOUR GEOSTIGMA INFESTED BODIES AWAY FROM ME! RIIIIIIKUUUUU! KAAAAAIIIIRRRRRRIIII!"

"No, you have to get it, too!" Yuffie screams with tears in her eyes, standing up and grabbing her shuriken, chasing after the Keyblade Master violently. Leon lets out a quiet chuckle and grins happily, very much amused on how the pair (and Cloud) were acting. No doubt that he had hoped for some reaction like this.

"Nice, Strife. Funny but... How you going to explain the bruise to Aerith?" He asks quietly, shaking his head in disapproval but that cocky little smirk didn't go away. Cloud glances up at the kitchen clock again.

Three fifty five.

When the hell were Aerith and Cid going to be back?


	10. Chain of Memories: Cards

**If this is weird to say, then I don't care.**

**I've always wondered if they played games with these freakin' cards. **

**I know I would have, but then again I have the attention span of a toddler on sugar.**

**Disclaimers: Chain of Memories is not mine.**

* * *

><p>Bewildered, Sora looks down at the pack of cards he had just been handed. Without saying a word, the abnormally solemn Keyblade Master lifts one of them, carefully looking at it from each and every angle possible. It was in the shape of a stretched out crown, not unlike the necklace he wore under his t-shirt. There were several colors, blue, red, green and a dark golden color. They were very pretty, in a way. When he flips them over, revealing the symbol of a small key on it. He looks down at his hand, amazed that they had managed to draw the Kingdom Key on such a small panel. It was very impressive.<p>

Marluxia, the man hidden beneath the black cloak, chuckles quietly to himself. No doubt that the Keyblade Master, as stupid as he appeared to be on occasion, was appreciating the powerful nature of the brightly colored cards in his hands. It was practically genius, if he did say so himself. The card itself was made from a sampling of Sora's memories, a powerful act of magic.

After Sora proves to him that he did in fact know how to follow instructions, Marluxia says, amused, "Go, Sora. To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…You know what to do…"

* * *

><p><em><strong>A Few hours Later<strong>_

"… Hey Marluxia? You remember those cards you gave to the Keyblade Wimp?" Larxene asks curiously from her perch on the sofa, a huge red textbook-like novel open on her chest as she keeps reading in boredom. The blonde teenager had been lying there for about two hours, just reading, which was a favorite activity of hers surprisingly.

Marluxia looks over briefly and mutters: "Yes… I remember the cards I gave to Sora. Why do you care, Larxene?" in a bored tone, obviously not in the mood for Larxene's supposedly funny jokes. He had his own problems, and they mostly involved Naminé's disobedience. He would have to wrap the stubborn little witch up on the ceiling in his thorny vines for three days again…

The young Nobody girl gives out an amused chuckle. Marluxia looks over again, startled at this. Larxene very rarely laughed; if she did, it was usually either something extremely funny or extremely sadistic. This was not a good sign.

Axel, who was sitting in a chair at the table smirks in amusement, too. The red head gives out a soft chuckle as he places down his cup of instant ramen, glancing into a small orb that was nestled gently in a cushion on the table.

"I think they're playing poker." He comments as a very familiar cheer comes from the small orb that they were using to keep an eye on Sora.

"BOO YAH! It's a full house! In your face, Donald!" An all too familiar voice cheers as the Keyblade Master, the one who was so essential to their plan, stands up from his spot in one of the halls in Castle Oblivion and lets out a loud whoop of triumph.

"Sora, you're a cheating whore!" Another voice quacks from the sphere, as a slapping noise and another grunt echoes through the now silent room.

"Uh, Donald, I don't think you're s'pposed to hit Sora like that, hyuck. He's bleedin' kinda bad…." A goofy sounding voice says in concern as Larxene and Axel laugh that much harder.

Marluxia, however, stares at the orb in horror and curses violently, vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness. Larxene and Axel grin at each other. The Keyblade Master may be an idiot at times, but at least he was entertaining.


	11. Kingdom Hearts: Remembrance

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine, and neither are Riku, Sora, and Kairi.**

**Let me just say this.**

**Just one thing.**

**I HATE YOU SO BAD, RIKU.**

**I'm gonna go clean my brain with zombies.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Remembrance<strong>_

This was... a dream, wasn't it?

He stares at the darkness before him, somehow feeling rays of this intense light on his back. Like he was standing in the twilight, between sunrise and the darkest of night. He feels her back pressed against his, as if she was facing the light. He had the darkness, she the light.

That's the way it had always been between them, her being a strange gentle light to him. As for himself, Riku always thought that he was the darkness. The blackest heart, the monster between the two of them. She was the pure maiden, untainted by everything or anything... That's what he always had felt.

They were never meant to be together, were they?

Riku smiles as he looks into the darkness before he turns to the young girl beside him. She looks back with an oddly solemn expression, as if waiting for him to say something. Compelled by her silence, he finds himself stumbling over his words. "You'll always be there... won't you, Kairi? No matter what?" He asks softly, looking at her with a strange sort of curiosity. He was wondering, just what had happened between them? He had turned against his friends... the girl he loved... his family... and for what? What had he wanted?

Those dark blue eyes only blink once before she smiles at him. She nods and takes his hand, gently pulling it into her own. Her fingers were warm, almost soothingly warm. He felt like he was being submerged in light; it was almost suffocating. But he holds her hand anyway and he looks toward the darkness, knowing that it was his own heart. His own black, miserable heart. He turns to the light and smiles. He turns to Kairi and watches as she raises her hand, waving to something in the distance. Without even looking, he knew who it was.

"Sora..." he whispers softly to himself, maybe to the princess. He smiles, knowing just what he had been looking for all along. He looks at the light, knowing what lay in it, just what he had left behind in the beginning of his journey for strength.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd had what he had been looking for all along.

"Is any of this for real... or not? I don't really care anyway. … I won't let anyone hurt you." He promises softly as he crushes her fingers into his, raising his head for the first time in months. After months of being Maleficent's... and later Ansem's... toy, he finally found the strength to decide.

"_No. You won't use me for this!"_

* * *

><p><strong>I STILL HATE YOU, RIKU.<strong>

**I've never written Riku fluff, much less KairiXRiku fluff!**

**... I almost feel dirty.**

**-Forbidden**

**PS: Thanks for catching my mistake, it's all fixed up now.**


	12. Kingdom Hearts Two: Cruisin' the Town

**Disclaimers: Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts are not mine, though they should totally mix these two aspects of the games together. The animals however, are mine in my mind, and Big Red in particular is my favorite.**

**By the way... I think the song "Bicycle Race" by Queen is totally at fault for making me think up the ending. Just so you know.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The two teenagers crawl on the ground, their intense stare firmly locked on the animals roaming inside of the pen. Even when one of the more curious critters butts its head against the fence a few feet away from them, they show no reaction whatsoever and continue moving. The younger one, the smaller brunet, only glances at it with an awestruck expression. He grins in excitement.<p>

"Riku..." Sora says softly, nodding to himself in silent agreement to an unsaid statement. Riku flips his silver hair out of his face, a dark scowl already in place. He looks disapprovingly at Sora, shaking his head. "No. This isn't going to work." He states curtly, going back to staring at the animals. Even as he says this, a strange look of longing appears in his eyes and he continues to crawl closer with his friend.

"It's gonna work! This is a great idea!" Sora says loudly, making one of the animals closest to him jump in fright. The boys immediately become silent, freezing in mid-crawl. The animal looks around nervously, clawing at the ground cautiously, immediately inhaling air to look that much bigger. For a tense moment, it looks like it was about to take a running leap over the fence and onto their heads. They could both hear the sickeningly loud crunch in their minds. After all, the crunch of their skulls mashing into their brains would be a very memorable sound, if they survived.

In a moment, however, it calms down and goes back to grazing.

The boys look at each other, giving the other one a violent glare that pretty much says everything that they wanted to say out loud. 'This is a good idea, Riku!' 'No, it's not, you're gonna get us killed.' 'Will not!' 'WILL TOO!'

The animals make a low noise, staring at the completely silent boys before them as if wondering what the heck they thought they were doing. They pull away from each other, scowling violently to themselves. Within a few minutes, Sora calms down enough to jab his finger toward the animals, a determined look on his face.

It's pretty obvious from the look on his face that he was going to ride one if it killed him.

Sora and Riku look at each other before grinning in unison. Even the overly solemn and calm Riku couldn't help it. This was just too cool, too much fun to be all emo about.

"This is gonna be awesome." Sora says softly, grinning happily at the animals. One looks at the boy for a moment before 'kwehing' apprehensively. Something, probably animal instinct, told it that this was not going to end well. Sora walks up to it, hopping over the fence easily with a high jump. As the Keyblade Master slowly walks up to it and begins stroking its beak gently, it nudges its head into the boy's gloved hands.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Riku and Sora yell in unison, punching their fists in the air as they pet their chosen animals. The two steeds nuzzle into the boys' hands, each looking at the other one warily.

Nope. Wasn't going to end well at all.

* * *

><p><strong>Destiny Islands: Downtown Main Street<strong>

Kairi takes a lick of the strawberry ice cream cone that had been foisted on her by the overly excited Selphie. It wasn't bad, actually, though she didn't particularly like strawberry. Too girly for her taste.

"So, Tidus and Wakka have been sooo jerk-y today! They won't stop playing that stupid game. … I'm starting to think they're ignoring us, you know? Cause they won't even talk to Sora. And they love Sora." Selphie says solemnly, biting irritably at her spoonful of frozen yogurt. Even the deliciousness of chocolate doesn't help her mood, but she continues eating her way through the little carton anyway. Kairi rolls her eyes but stays silent, figuring this was one of those times to shut up and listen rather than say that Selphie was being dramatic.

She blinks and looks up at the street, suddenly imagining she heard something. Something like... thunder?

* * *

><p><strong>Sora's and Riku's Position<strong>

Sora clings to the mane of his steed, screaming his brunet head off as he and the animal make a sudden right turn, instantly jumping in front of Riku and his red animal. He hears a very loud swear as the animal skids behind him, almost stopping completely.

"WHOO-HOO! Eat my dust, Riku!" He screams as he yanks harder on the reins, tapping his heels against the sides of the animal to make it go faster. Immediately, it picks up its speed, tossing its yellow head back and 'kwehing' that much louder, as if in victory.

Riku grits his teeth, angrily slamming his feet at his animal's sides. With a furious noise, it begins to run even faster, as if it was pissed off that the yellow one (and more importantly, fucking Sora) was beating him.

He would _not_ let them beat him.

* * *

><p><strong>Destiny Islands: Downtown Main Street<strong>

Kairi and Selphie stare at the huge dust clouds as they zoom down the street beside their cafe, identical expressions of sheer shock appearing on their faces. All they hear is a single sentence, and they know exactly what was going on. "Eat my dust, Riku!" Sora howls in delight as he and his Chocobo race past the cafe, immediately blowing over a few tables from the sheer wind pressure of the ride.

It lets out a loud "KWEH!" as it passes them, even throwing its head back proudly as it thunders down the street.

A single yellow feather lands in Selphie's yogurt as Riku on a blood-red Chocobo runs past them. They can only see him for about a second, but... he immediately goes faster on the animal, holding his arm out to the side, holding onto the reins with one hand. A large black and gray blade appears in his hand and he lets out a loud whoop, kicking the sides of the Chocobo to make it speed up. Within seconds, he catches up to Sora and slams the flat end of the sword-like weapon into his back, sending the younger boy flying off of the bird's back.

He immediately pulls hard on the reins of his own animal, stopping it in mid-stride. He hops off of his saddle, looks back at the street. The shocked people of Destiny Islands stare at him and Sora curses violently from the ground. Riku flips his hair back and smiles broadly.

"Okay, you can arrest us now." He tells the police officer that just jumped out of his car, holding his hands out to be hand-cuffed.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, guys, this is a little thing I randomly thought up because I became convinced that Chocobos can totally be named after gum. Why? … You look me in the metaphorical eye and say that "Juicy Fruit" is not a hilarious name for a goddamn Chocobo. If I ever get my hands on a plush version, his name is gonna be Juicy Fruit, damn what anyone thinks!<strong>

**Juicy Fruit: Kweh. (Better believe my name will be Juicy Fruit.)**

**-ForbiddenKHFan216 (And Juicy Fruit)**

**PS: To all my loyal fans, this is still not an update. The authoress is too depressed.**


	13. Kingdom Hearts Two: Happy Anniversary!

**Two words: I'm an idiot and yes, I actually think like this.**

**Disclaimers: KH ain't mine. The end.**

* * *

><p>Sora looks blankly at the girl before him, a scowl slowly appearing on his normally happy features. He looks puzzled, and he keeps looking at the box she holds in her hands. "Wait a goddamn minute. You're telling me that my game is already ten years old?" Sora asks curiously, scratching at his head in confusion.<p>

She nods. "Yep, ten years old since about September in the US. Japan might be a little earlier." The authoress explains calmly, shrugging as if it was an unimportant detail. Riku and Kairi keep looking at the game box themselves, with varying expressions of disbelief.

They remain silence for a moment, obviously reflecting on how far the series had gotten in ten years, all the challenges that they had faced in that decade of time, how much-

"GOD_DAMN_ IT! And I'm **_STILL_ **shorter than Riku after ten years!"

Or maybe not.


	14. Kingdom Hearts: Creepy Pasta

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine; my twisted mind IS.**

**I've never actually written a tragedy for Kingdom Hearts, though my readers over on Fictionpress know that I've written a few (poorly).**

**So, without further ado, here is my tragedy! Or rather... my creepy pasta. Damn I've been reading too many of these. I also might make this its own fic later one. Or you know, just replace this one chapter. ... Me being depressed leads to the most interesting ideas... **

**Sora, I'm so fucking sorry little buddy!**

* * *

><p>Sora lives in an insane asylum. All of the events of the games are his own delusions, brought on by his toys of Donald and Goofy and of Mickey Mouse. His favorite movies and later on, Disney films that he watched in the hospital, are replayed in his head as his own adventures. He actually went insane and killed some boys on the island, claiming they were Heartless. This is why you do not see Wakka and Tidus in person beyond the first game; Sora killed them as a child and they only exist in his memories as children. This is why they appear in Chain of Memories. This is also why there's Disney and Final Fantasy characters in the series; Sora loved Disney films and watched Riku play several Final Fantasy games when he was a child. He cannot remember the boys he actually killed, despite their friendship, and filled them in with Tidus and Wakka from Final Fantasy X instead.<p>

All of the Heartless and Nobodies are in his imagination; he is terrified of shadows and mirrors (they reflect the soul, thus the symbolization behind the Nobodies) due to a belief of monsters that stemmed from Riku's horror stories. He never was able to grow out of it, and later becomes worse, seeing the 'Heartless' and 'Nobodies' everywhere. He believes that he was the only one who could kill them, and this led to his incarceration. He also ends up creating creatures called the "Dream-Eaters" to combat this fear, saying that they were monsters created from his dreams. According to him, they either "eat dreams and plant nightmares", referred to as Nightmare Dream Eaters, or that they "eat nightmares", referred to as Spirit Dream Eaters.

As a child, Riku was the one to turn him in, thus earning himself the role of a villain and later an anti-hero due to this so-called betrayal. A young Kairi tried to stop him, earning her the role of a princess and precious person in Sora's fantasies. The other six princesses and later Naminé, were girls who either lived or worked in the asylum.

Naminé was an assistant nurse there, and helped encourage Sora's fantasies due her resemblance to Kairi. She played along with him, believing that they were harmless games. Her drawing ability and later on, her love of Sora earned her a part as a 'magical witch' and a central part in his story. Her sadness at not being able to help Sora led to the creation of 'Xion,' as a way to let Naminé "help save" Sora in a sense. After her creation, Sora did get better for a while until he began to reject his medication again. He also gave her the role of a princess for a while, before remembering Kairi was already his precious princess.

The Organization were doctors, nurses, and other patients that either tried to help Sora (earning their roles as villains) or tried to befriend him (anti-heroes such as Axel, who was an inmate). He developed a second personality (Roxas) in order to interact with them but kept his toys as friends, calling them memories of 'Sora.'

DiZ or Ansem the Wise is the head of the asylum and took a personal interest in Sora's case, thus earning himself a role as a villain and later an anti-hero once Sora discovers that Ansem will not hurt him. He once complimented Sora's Mickey Mouse plush and always greets it at Sora's insistence, thus cementing Sora's belief that they are friends.

The three Keyblade Masters (Aqua, Terra, and Ventus/V_anitas_) are all people who live/work in the asylum. Sora once saw Aqua before she finished her nursing degree and came to work in the asylum, so he fervently believes she's a secret Keyblade Master.

Ventus is a boy who lives in the asylum and has an uncanny resemblance to what Sora thinks Roxas looks like. He also has a similar delusion to Sora, and after befriending him, became a central part of his story. He often played with Sora as a child and was the one to tell him about the Keyblade when he was five, which led to Sora adopting the weapon in his own fantasy later on. The Unversed are part of his delusion, which is why Sora has never fought one. Eraqus is also Ventus's delusion, his representation of what a father should be like. Vanitas is Ven's second personality, and what gave Sora the idea of the Dream-Eaters. After Ventus left the asylum, Sora 'forgot' about him, leading to why you don't see Ven in the games before Birth By Sleep.

Terra, due to how he reminds Sora of Riku, also became part of the story but as a villain; he is the one who forces Sora to take his pills/medication and Sora hates him with a passion, turning him into Ansem the Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas in his delusions. He is the thing to always be defeated, which means Sora must NOT take his medicine because that'll make him lucid and abandon his fantasies. So in order to defeat Terra/Ansem/Xemnas, he has to hide his medicine, distancing himself further from reality and keeping him in the asylum even longer.

Kairi and Riku visited him as often as they could, often playing along with him, unable to snap their friend out of his delusions. His own parents were ignored whenever they visited, the reason being that he could never be a hero with them tagging along with him. Eventually, he completely forgot them, supposedly destroying the 'chain of memory' inside of his heart that belonged to them. This is why you don't ever see them in the games, with the exception of his mother who calls out to him. This is the last moment that she exists in his heart as a full memory before he completely ignores her. His father has long since been ignored. He only vaguely remembers that he has parents.

Eventually, Sora is unable to deal with the real world, becoming completely immersed in his fantasy. Unable to see Sora like this, Riku kidnaps him out of the hospital, secretly taking him to the beach in Destiny Islands. He tries to force Sora back into reality but Sora is unwilling to leave his fantasy world, clinging to his toys and his childhood instead. In response, Riku throws him into the water, holding his head beneath it. Due to how he's lived in the asylum for most of his life, Sora doesn't know how to swim.

Kairi later comes by, managing to save Sora and call an ambulance as well. He sees this act and seems to come out of his reality, knowing that Kairi had saved him. At the last moments of his life, he sees her as Naminé and himself as Roxas, the representations of normality for him. He takes her hand and tells her that Riku and he had come back. She corrects him and says that they're home. Sora finally regains his sanity long enough to say good-bye to his friends.

_The light continues to fade from the younger boy's blue eyes. It wouldn't stop fading, no matter how tightly she held onto him. His right hand is clenched tightly in hers and the girl continues to hold onto his hand, holding it just as tightly. Strangely, there's a happy smile on the boy's face, despite how badly he was shaking from the cold. _

_His clothes are soaked, his eyes empty, but still... there was that smile on his face. He smiles at them, reaching up with his left hand to touch their friend's face before he turns his gaze to her. "W-We're back..." He wheezes out softly, still smiling blankly at her, as if he hadn't seen her in a very long time. She nods weakly, giving him a vague smile as her violet-blue eyes fill with tears. "You're home." She corrects him quietly as she holds her other hand out to him. _

_He takes it, and she automatically plants a kiss on his wet forehead, silently welcoming him back. _

"_I'm home..." He says softly, closing his eyes as his friends hold him close. He clings to both of them, silently smiling as the light fades from his eyes. He was home. _


	15. Dream Drop Distance: Dreams?

**This is basically my reaction to getting Dream Drop Distance today, so yeah. Enjoy?**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine. **

**Cait Sith the Pricklemane, Behemoth the Meow Wow, Carbuncle the Tama Sheep, and Anima the Komory Bat are as mine as it is possible to make Dream-Eaters yours.**

* * *

><p>Riku crouches down beside the small animal, watching the tiny furball go nuts with excitement over his proximity. He puts a hand on the cat-like creature's head, forcing it to the floor, petting it lazily. Above him, a bright multi-hued bat sways beside his head, clipping a dark red wing against the Keyblader's now short silver hair. He ignores the touch, focusing on the cat.<p>

"... Yen Sid... has a sick sense of humor... if he thinks this is cute." Riku sighs softly, stroking the cat's giant mouth, making it purr in happiness, its giant grin firmly in place now. He stands up, dusting off his hands. He motions to the two monsters, summoning Way To the Dawn with the other hand. "Alright, Cait, Anima, let's go!" He says before stopping, his eyes widening.

Sora bounces onto his bat, clutching at a small purple dog-creature. Before he could stop him, Sora sends the little bat flying into a wall, and Sora continues to bounce erratically. "I'm on a dog... bouncing on your bat! Your argument is _**invalid**_!" the younger boy cheers as a cotton-candy colored sheep 'baas' eagerly in agreement.

Cait Sith smacks his head on the ground, growling softly. Riku couldn't help but agree with the Dream-Eater. What. The. Fuck.


	16. Dream Drop Distance: That's One Way

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine. Mild language warning! **

* * *

><p>Xion watches as the authoress quickly runs into the bathroom, locking it and yelling tauntingly even as the older Organization member begins pounding at the door furiously. She hands over the popcorn bowl to Riku, who helps himself to a handful as Axel starts trying to burn the door down.<p>

"Should we tell them?" He asks curiously, licking the butter off of his fingers as the wooden bathroom door suddenly turns into solid steel and sends Axel flying. They could already hear Forbidden's gleeful laughter as Axel slams into a wall and then throws his flaming chakrams back at the door.

Xion glances at the wall-clock, momentarily mesmerized by the cat's eyes darting from side to side. She shakes her head no and shovels another handful of popcorn down her throat. "I think she'll figure it out. Eventually." The younger Nobody comments through the mouthful of food, chuckling softly to herself as she swallows it down and grabs some more kernels. Riku nods in agreement before smiling deviously to himself, folding his legs up underneath himself in order to keep himself out of the firing range.

All of a sudden, a loud and very high-pitched shriek comes out of the bathroom. Axel freezes and stares at the door, which began to vibrate viciously from the sheer amount of force that Forbidden was putting into trying to break it down. The doorknob rattles before it finally manages to turn, with the authoress bolting out of the bathroom and diving under the bed sobbing.

Riku smiles and holds his hand out to the creature that waddles out behind her. As its heart-shaped tongue laps at his fingers, it grins up sheepishly at him and the Toximander is carefully picked up by the chuckling boy. He strokes its slimy skin gently, allowing it to curl up in his lap and start gobbling down as much popcorn as it could stomach from the bowl.

Axel sighs softly, listening to the sobbing teenager whimper that she was 'going to update now, get that fucking thing away from me.' "Well..." He says quietly, shaking his head as the Toximander's tail brushes against Forbidden's face, making the girl let out another shriek and scramble out of the bed screaming her head off. "That's one way to make an authoress update."

* * *

><p><strong>... The sad thing is that I like salamanders. <strong>


	17. Kingdom Hearts II: Farewell, Old Friend

**Ugh, okay, I'm going to say this now. I like genderbender fics, if they're done very well. It's interesting to see how the characters would react if they're the opposite gender. ... I'm sorry, Roxas, Axel.**  
><strong>Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts do not belong to me. The female versions of the characters do not belong to me either, they're just in my psycho head.<strong>

* * *

><p>She pauses in the middle of her walk, turning to the woman clutching at her hand. The younger girl bows her head, smiling bitterly beneath the black hood that hid her soft blue eyes. "I've made up my mind, Alexia. You know that." She declares quietly, pulling her arm free from the pyromaniac's grip gently. As if the older woman had been slapped, she recoils, staring at her friend in sheer shock.<p>

She grabs the girl, hugging her tightly, squeezing her as if she wouldn't allow her to go. "Come home." She says softly, making the girl stiffen in her arms from the amount of emotion that was present. Number XIII bows her head, wondering how a Nobody like Alexia could even feel that... amount of loss. It was so strange. Even after telling her so many times that Nobodies HAD no emotions, the same person could make her feel like she wanted to break down and cry her eyes out and not leave. But it was too late. She had made up her mind... and now... with this, there was no going back to being the Organization's dog.

Not with her other half already dead.

She pulls away, pulling her hood firmly over her blond hair. Even in the rain of the City, it refuses to flatten down. She bows her head and repeats her statement quietly, with that much more conviction. "It doesn't matter anymore, VIII. Soon you won't even know I'm gone." She declares confidently, looking up at her friend with a despondent expression. Her grim smile makes the older woman falter, making her look torn between hugging her friend again to comfort her or slapping her to wake her up.

Roxanne's eyes close as the tears begin to drip their way down her pale cheek, her grief suddenly appearing behind the façade of nothingness that all Nobodies possessed since their deaths/rebirths as the heartless creatures they were.

The girl chuckles softly, smiling beneath her hood. Who was she joking? Just... where would she g? It was painful, but no one could help it. Not a single soul could help it. Even Xionias had never been able to help her, not with the girl in their shared dreams blocking their way.

Sora. She hated that girl. She hated everything about the Keyblade Mistress that the Superior was so dead set on getting her hands on.

Alexia grabs her friend and spins her around, gripping the girl's shoulders tightly. Her words are spat out venomously, as if she would kill anyone who dared attempted it. "They're going to destroy you! You get on their bad side, no matter who you are to them, they'll turn you into a Dusk and _**destroy**_ you, Roxy!" She snarls, shaking the girl violently for a single moment before releasing her, making Roanne's foot catch on one of the cobblestones in the street. The loose stone almost makes her trip, but she manages to grab hold of the wall, stopping herself just in time.

She hauls herself up, brushing off the black dust that had gathered on her thigh-length boots. The long heels click on the stones as she looks up at Alexia for the last time. The black tendrils of darkness that always accompanied a Corridor of Darkness trickle across her face, gripping the girl's features as tightly as ivy would to a crumbling wall. A cold smile stretches across her pink lips, making her briefly seem much older than her few fourteen years.

A low chuckle emerges from her lips as Alexia reaches for her, desperately trying to get her friend before she ran away. Even as the teenager vanished from her vision, the older Nobody's tears began to drip down her face. She didn't even know that she could cry anymore, but the tears wouldn't stop falling.

"No one would miss me."

Alexia's head bows as she crumples to her knees on the street, her black gloved hands automatically going to her hands as she sobs silently. "That's not true...! I would..." She whispers softly to the empty street, crying for the friend that had just abandoned her.

The friend who had just given herself a death sentence.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, for the record, the other half that "Roxanne" mentions is actually the male version of Xion, called Xionias. I stole the last part of your name, Vanitas, and what?! Either way, male Xion's name is lame. XD<strong>

**I figured she wouldn't have forgotten him, alright? **

**Read and review while the authoress struggles not to get addicted to this idea and plan out an elaborate story!**


	18. Birth By Sleep: Dancing

Terra watches in shock as Ven dances around like a maniac, jumping up onto his bed with somehow managing to do the robot. And holy crap, could Ven do the robot. "This is it now!  
>Everybody get down, this is all I can take! This is how a heart breaks!"<p>

Terra looks down at his half-full cup of coffee in silent contemplation before dumping it out onto one of Ven's plants. He walks quietly out of the room and down the hall, going into Aqua's room. She stares at him from her bed, having looked up when he came in. "I blame you." He says quietly before slamming the door behind him, leaving to go jump off the mountain with his Glider.

Later

"Ven?" Aqua asks curiously, smiling at the younger boy as he flips through the comics in the newspaper. "Yeah, Aqua?" He asks, focusing on the colored pictures of a talking tiger named Joey. "Did you freak Terra out with Rob Thomas again?"

Ven stays quiet but nods.

_Smack!_

Ven flinches and touches his suddenly aching head. For a girl, Aqua could pack a punch!

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Rob Thomas's "This is How A Heart Breaks" belong to their respective honors.<strong>

**I should totally not be allowed to listen to music.**


	19. BirthBySleep:What Do You Want Me To Do?

**Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep and 358/2 Days are not mine! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The two stare at each other, temporarily transfixed in each other's gaze before the bigger one turns to the girl besides. Aqua's jaw was hanging open, so wide that you could practically see her tonsils. Terra nods, confirming to himself that he was in fact, not dreaming. He turns back to the blond boy before him, noting that he was trembling within the folds of his black jacket.<p>

Okay, maybe the jacket was really, _really_, _**really**_ cool, but that made no excuse.

Terra looks at the boy again, clapping his hand onto his shoulder. The boy shakes that much harder, clutching at the silver and gold key in his hand like it was a safety net. Knowing how badly he was scared, the Keyblade Apprentices know that he could be about five seconds from pulling out a can of whoop-ass and attacking them both. "Okay, who the heck are you?" Terra demands bluntly, crouching down slightly to look the boy in the eyes.

He squeaks something before shriveling up inside of his jacket, burrowing under his hood.

"Did you get that?" Aqua asks curiously, somehow managing to close her jaw without catching a fly inside of it. Terra shakes his head. "Nope. I got - " Here Terra makes a high-pitched squeak similar to that of a mouse getting kicked in the balls but not anything resembling human speech. The boy trembles in fear besides him and automatically, Terra claps his hand onto the kid's shoulder in an attempt to soothe him.

"Roxas! It's Roxas, okay, don't kill me, Superior!" The boy shrieks before yanking away from Terra and scooting behind Aqua, staring at him from under the hood with the biggest pair of watery blue eyes that the solemn Keyblade Wielder had ever seen. And he had seen when Ven begged for cake.

Terra stares at him before pausing. Superior? … It had a nice ring to it.

Aqua pats Roxas on the head, gently trying to soothe the shaking boy. "There, there, Roxas. Terra won't hurt you, will you, Terra?" She asks, giving Terra the meanest goddamn glare he had ever received. Which immediately pissed him off. "I'm not going to hurt him." He whispers angrily, motioning towards the kid irritably. "Tell _**him**_ that!" Aqua hisses back, glaring at him again. Roxas watches in amusement, wondering if they realized he could hear everything. "I don't even know the guy!" He growls, stepping forward to confront the angry Keyblade Mistress. But Aqua was in full out Mama mode. And Mama Aqua was going to keep her baby bear safe. "Terra! Just say you're not going to hurt him!" She snarls, bringing Roxas closer to her with a gentle tug of her arm. Roxas blushes but snuggles in, obviously confused.

Now Terra had enough. Only one person got to cuddle with Aqua and it sure as hell wasn't a stranger. "What the hell do you want me to do?! Take him to a spa?!"

* * *

><p>Terra sits with Roxas in the sauna, glaring into the coals as they released heat into the air. "... I hate you so damn much." He says quietly, wrapping his towel even closer around his pelvis. Roxas just leans back, closing his eyes. "Whatever you say, Superior." He says quietly, his fear of his boss long gone.<p> 


	20. Birth By Sleep: We Like The Classics

**Kingdom Hearts, Austin Powers or James Bond do not belong to me. **

**... I can't really say anything for this chapter.**

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><p>As the three Keyblade wielders run into the room, the wheel-y chair spins around slowly in a dramatic fashion. Eraqus lets out a gasp. "I knew it was you... Xehanort!" He growls as the bald man in the chair smiles in an appropriately evil fashion. "Why of course... Master Eraqus." Here he sneers the name, taunting him in another dramatic way that seemed really over the top. Eraqus growls threateningly, holding up his Keyblade in an equally dramatic but heroic way.<p>

Ven turns to Terra. "This is really weird." He whispers in a secretive voice, looking at his former master in sheer utter confusion. Terra nods, keeping a firm grip on his Keyblade and making sure that Ven was three steps behind him in case the two Masters got nuts. Ven peers up at Xehanort, looking at Terra in surprise when he sees just who was sitting in his lap.

Vanitas glares at him, his features perfectly present in the spooky dim light of the evil lair. "Don't you even start, loser." He mutters in a half-hearted attempt to mimic Xehanort's evil drama but from the disgusted look on his face, he really didn't want to be part of this anymore than the boys did. In fact, he looks like he wanted to be part of this even less than the boys.

Maybe it's the cat-ears that are stuck on his head.

Xehanort leans back in his throne, stroking Vanitas's spiky dark hair in a way that reminded the three heroes of how Ven used to play with his old bunny. "Why... It's so lovely for all four of you to join us," Xehanort says with a dark chuckle, winking at Terra in an especially creepy way. In response, Terra backs up and pushes Ven even further away from the old creep. Eraqus growls and slams his Keyblade into the tiles, making sparks fly up from them. Terra, Ven, and Vanitas (who was trying to escape from Xehanort's lap but failing due to the tight grip the old man had) all exchange glances. The old men were taking this _**WAY**_ too far. "Cut the crap!" Eraqus yells in a voice that would done credit to an 80s action hero. "Where's Aqua?!" He demands, pointing the blade up to his former friend's throat.

Xehanort grins evilly, letting out an excited giggle by mistake. He coughs, trying to cover it up despite how badly Vanitas started shaking from laughter. "Why... I'm glad you asked... Why don't you ask her yourself?!" At this, the old man jumps in his seat and knocks Vanitas to the floor, ignoring the boy's startled yelp and curse. He points a finger to the large, dramatically located curtain in the back of the room.

Terra and Ven look at each other in surprise. "How'd we miss that?" They ask in unison as the curtain falls away, revealing... Eraqus gasps again, putting his hand to his mouth. "Aqua!" The boys (and Eraqus) cry out in perfect unison, all three of them worried for their friend/pupil. "She's... in a fish tank?" Ven asks in confusion, staring at the large glass structure surrounding the small space she sat in.

Aqua glances up before placing another card on the pile before her. "Hi guys. … That's a full house, I win." She says to the small purple bunny creature before her, smirking in triumph as it starts hopping around in sheer anger. It slams its ears into the pile of cards, throwing them around and slamming its head into the wall.

Eraqus turns to Xehanort and turns blood red. "You fiend! I can understand you hurting me... but not Aqua! What have you done to her?!" He snarls in paternalistic outrage. Xehanort giggles again, drumming his fingertips against each other. "Oh yes! And I did many horrible things to your beloved little student as well!" He says, making no sense whatsoever. Aqua looks up as Terra's jaw drops in horror. "He stared at me, told me to wear a provocative suit, passed out when I showed him the back of my original design and stuck me in a tank. Master, I'm fine." She says bluntly, making both Terra and Ven sigh in relief. Vanitas scowls, obviously not pleased.

"This is stupid." He mutters, suddenly flinching when Xehanort turns to him. Xehanort's eyes turn dark and the old master's mouth sets itself into a firm line. The dark apprentice shivers under the intense gaze, looking at Aqua in fear. He mouths the words 'help me' and nods exaggeratively to Terra in his master's direction as if telling him that he had full permission to whale on the old bugger. Xehanort now turns to Eraqus. He stabs a finger in Vantias's direction. "You're making me angry. And when Master Xehanort gets angry, Vanitas gets upset." He says in a low, threatening voice. Vanitas blinks in surprise. "I do?" He asks, obviously confused. "And when Vanitas gets upset... PEOPLE DIE!" Xehanort shrieks at the top of his lungs, leaping off of his chair and summoning his Keyblade in mid-jump.

The two old men start dueling in a battle of epic proportions, each one of them seeming to be trying to leap off of as many surfaces as humanly possible while avoiding their apprentices. It was like they were playing the world's weirdest version of "The Floor Is Lava" game... but with weapons. The four apprentices look at each other, each one arching an eyebrow.

"You guys are so freaking lame!" Vanitas and Ven say in unison, as Terra throws Earthshaker over his shoulder. "Well, I'm gonna go rescue the damsel..." He says nonchalantly as he slams the Keyblade into the glass tank, quickly catches Aqua in his arms from her bizarre sudden falling from the ceiling and carefully starts carrying her off bridal style to the exit. "My hero." She exclaims sarcastically, leaning her head onto Terra's shoulder. Vanitas and Ven now look to each other, shrug and walk off with the other two apprentices, quickly discussing plans to somehow get ice cream and/or Aqua.

The two Masters stop in mid-stride, skidding to a stop in the middle of the unnecessarily huge ballroom. "Kids today." Master Xehanort mutters in contempt. Eraqus shakes his head. "No appreciation for the classics." He agrees. And without saying another word, they proceed to beat the living crap out of each other.


	21. AU: As Long As There Is The Same Sky

**Part I**

As he stands there in the doorway, the bundle of flowers Roxas had been carrying tumbles from his hands. They had been a present for her, a gift 'just because', a way to show his love for her. And as he stands there, they fall from his hands just as the pair on the bed embrace.

They didn't even notice him there.

He just stands there, the tears trickling down his now pale face. His breath catches in his chest, and he still makes no noise. Slowly, his dark blue eyes close and he retreats into himself, somehow traveling back into his mind and sitting down in there.

He watches the pair kiss, the way that the boy with the silver hair so different from his own blond spikes held the girl he loved with every fiber of his being and whispered soft words into her ear. He watches as his now former friend touches his girlfriend with the kind of touch she had never received from his own hand.

He watches all this in a detached sort of way, like it was happening on a television screen to a pair of characters in a show he had never seen before and had come into the middle of an episode of. There in that little seat in the back of his mind, he watches Naminé and Riku kiss again and he marks how the passion in the boy's touch mirrored his own whenever he held that poor, defenseless little girl in his arms.

Well, not so defenseless he guesses.

Roxas drops his gaze to the bundle of flowers by his feet, watching the way that the shadows from the partially closed door spread across their petals. Beautiful roses, they catch the light from the candlelit room on their dew-laced folds and crevasses. They look like they're covered in diamonds, in fact, or some other lovely and rare gem. In his blank state of observation, he notices every fold in the petals, every miniscule line, every last dash of black that marred their beautiful and turned them ugly and gray.

He cries there in the hallway of her apartment, silently listening to the words being exchanged. With every word that came out of Riku's lips, his heart shatters again and again. His girlfriend does not respond. Naminé doesn't say a word and because of this, Roxas sits down. He slides on the wall, feeling the coldness of the plaster on his back until his rear was firmly on the floor.

He rocks himself, feeling a strange sense of loss. No, not strange. He lifts his head as he hears Riku's voice again. In his mind, he sits in a cold little white room. He sits on a white chair and in his hand, there is a different object than the flowers now discarded on the floor.

In reality, even as the mental Roxas begins to scream in sheer rage and pain, the real Roxas only reaches into his pocket. The once warm fleece of his white checkered jacket, a gift from Naminé on a Christmas long ago where he had finally gathered the courage to kiss her beneath the mistletoe and to whisper the words he had kept trapped in his heart for so long in the fear that he would lose her friendship, feels scratchy and cold to his hand. He slowly pulls out the small box and opens it, looking into it as the ring inside catches the light just as beautifully as the white roses did on the floor.

He closes the box as soon as he sees that the trio of Orichalcum+ are safe within their velvet box. The white gold hurts him, now he can't look at it. He remembers every ounce of hard work he had put into getting this ring, the number of lunches he had lost in order to pay another payment, the way he had gotten through a series of crappy odd jobs in order to see that girl's face as he knelt down on one knee. The sacrifice didn't matter to him then. It was worth it, it was worth it for _her_. The boy within his mind sits down to sob just as his real self stands up.

Roxas leaves the box behind... along with the roses he had carefully propped up against the door so they'd be noticed when one of them got out of the room. The card he had written remains tucked lovingly between a pair of intertwined flowers and a bright green vine with tinier wisps of some white flower he had no idea even existed.

_'I'll be thinking of you wherever you go, and wherever you end up going._

_I'll pray for your sorrows to end, and for them to never begin._

_I'll hope for your heart, knowing that mine is already yours._

_I will step forward to grant your wishes, and to grant my own;_

_Who knows? My journey, and in turn your own, may not be so hard._

_It might already have begun, or may never begin._

_All I know is that as long as there is the same sky,_

_We will never be apart._

_-Roxas'_

* * *

><p><strong>Part II<strong>

As he stood there in the doorway, the bundle of flowers Roxas had been carrying tumbles from his hands. They had been a present for her, a gift 'just because', a way to show his love for her, a way to show her he was sorry. And as he stands there, they fall from his hands just as the pair by the bed hug each other and begin to cry.

They didn't even notice him there.

He just stands there, the tears trickling down his now pale face. His breath catches in his chest, and he still makes no noise. Slowly, his dark blue eyes close and he retreats into himself, somehow traveling back into his mind and sitting down in there. She...

He watches the pair cling to each other, the way that the boy with the messy brown hair so different from his own blond spikes held the girl he loved with every fiber of his being and whispered soft words into her ear. He watches as Sora cradles the screaming Kairi, his own tears falling even as the princess begs for her friend to come back.

The small lump in the bedsheets does not respond to these words, not even when Kairi rips free from Sora's embrace and starts shaking the figure violently. He lets her, his gloved hands dropping to his sides as he stares at the spectacle without saying a word.

Roxas watches all this in a detached sort of way, like it was happening on a television screen to a series of characters in a show he had never seen before and had come into the middle of an episode of. There in that little seat in the back of his mind, he watches Kairi slap Naminé with a backhand that would have done any self-defense teacher proud and scream into her ear in an attempt to wake her up. He marks the way the girl's voice cracks and how she drops to her knees to scream into the body's empty embrace, how she holds that poor, defenseless little girl in his arms.

She didn't need to be strong anymore.

Roxas drops his gaze to the bundle of flowers by his feet, watching the way that the light from the fully opened door spread across their petals. They were lilies, her favorite flowers, and they catch the light from the candlelit room on their dew-laced folds and crevasses. They look like they're covered in diamonds, in fact, or some other lovely and rare gem. In his blank state of observation, he notices every fold in the petals, every miniscule line, every last dash of light that enhanced their inner folds and made them glow.

He cries there in the hallway of her apartment, silently listening to the words being exchanged. The doctor says a few words of technical jargon, explaining that Naminé' mind wasn't able to cope with her ordeal. Having been attacked by someone she thought was a friend was too much for her already fragile psyche, the doctor says in as many words he could possibly fit into one sentence. He sees Sora nod slowly, as if the idiot actually understood what he was saying.

Kairi says a few words to the doctor, each one sounding like complete gibberish until she says 'funeral.'

Roxas pays close attention, his mind grasping at every word the girl exchanges with the two men. With every word that came out of Kairi's lips, his heart shatters again and again. It couldn't be real. It just couldn't. His girlfriend does not respond, even as they talk about her in the most empty and cold of words. Funeral. Death. Cremation. Service. Naminé doesn't say a word and because of this, Roxas sits down. He slides on the wall, feeling the slickness of the brightly patterned wallpaper on his back until his rear was firmly on the floor.

He rocks himself, feeling a strange sense of loss. No, not strange. He lifts his head as he hears Kairi's voice again. Funeral. She's gone. In his mind, he sits in a cold little white room. He sits on a white chair and in his hand, there is a different object than the flowers now discarded on the floor. He holds a little yellow pencil, and he is drawing on the floor and he is drawing an image that was dear to his heart, and he would never stop drawing it until he saw her again.

He had been through this mess before. And he hadn't said he was sorry. He hadn't visited her, he hadn't said anything, believing a lie instead of the girl he loved. Naminé. He didn't believe her, only Riku's sick lies. He didn't believe it until he saw the police report and the order from the police to have Riku locked up. Until he saw the papers admitting Naminé to the hospital.

In reality, even as the mental Roxas begins to scream in sheer rage and pain, the real Roxas only reaches into his pocket. The once cold leather of his Organization cloak, a gift from the gang he had joined on a cold night where he had wanted the chance to destroy as much of the world as he could possibly get his hands onto, feels suffocating and boiling hot to his hand. He pulls out the small book and flips the pages until he reaches the page he had wanted to see.

He closes the sketchbook as soon as he sees that picture. He looks at the way that the two badly scribbled figures held their hands. In the picture, the little figure that was obviously him, looks up into the sunset with his head held high. In reality, he hadn't held his head up like that since the night he saw the attack... and had completely misunderstood it. The girl in white holds his hand tightly in the picture, holding it as if she would never let it go. On her left hand, there is a small... but noticeable white ring. He remembers that ring. He remembers everything he put into it, and the way he had kissed it when he ran down the streets to her apartment to give it to her. It had been worth it, it had been worth it for _her_. Only for her. The boy within his mind sits down to stare numbly into the distance, refusing to believe what he sees with his own eyes just as his real self stands up.

Roxas enters the room, ignoring the startled cries from both Sora and Kairi, the way that Kairi latches onto him and begs him not to look. He looks at the body in the bed, the way that the bed-sheet was wrapped around her throat and the way that the empty bottle of medication was in Naminé's hand. Unable to associate the purple figure with the girl he loves, Roxas instead turns to the bedside table with the vague idea of dropping his flowers onto it.

That's where he sees them. A bundle of withered flowers. The white roses... The white roses he had carefully propped up against the door so they'd be noticed, the ones he had left behind to leave her a message that had never been true. The card he had written remains tucked lovingly between the pair of intertwined flowers. They are now crumbling and rotting, their yellowish petals scattered all over the table. The card is folded, and had been unfolded so many times that it is nearly torn in half.

And there is a note besides these flowers, underneath an empty jewelry box.

_'I'll think of you wherever I end up, and wherever you are,_

_I pray for your sorrow to end, and that you will not mourn because my heart is forever within yours._

_I have waited a long time to realize this wish, and I know that I have betrayed you._

_What happened hurt, but who knows? It may have hurt because I hurt you. Maybe this journey won't be so hard, and with this, you'll be set free from the monster that shattered you. Live long, and be happy for me. I can't leave you behind with these memories of me. Remember the happiness, and do not let them become chains of memories for you._

_This new journey has begun for me, do not let it begin for you._

_There are many worlds left in this universe, but remember this..._

_There is one sky, and as always, one destiny. Mine is with you._

_I'm sorry, I have to go now. I love you._

_Naminé'_


	22. AU: My Reason

**Okay, so yesterday I was thinking over the last chapter... and suddenly it hit me. What if there was a reason why Riku did what he did in that chapter? **

**I don't know, maybe this is an excuse to make Riku's character f-ed up beyond all hell. Anyway, this may get its own fic, because I don't want to keep spamming inboxes with updates for this and should make it stand alone.**

* * *

><p>As the door swings open, Riku looks up to see his best friend walking in with his daughter in his arms. Immediately, he relaxes, knowing that this is only a friendly visit. His friend was there to see him, even if he had done something horrible. He was still... then he sees it. Sora flashes him a smile but the dark look in his eyes remain guarded.<p>

Riku wilts. No... they couldn't... go back to the way they were before. He sets his hands on the table, letting the handcuffs clank onto the hard metal. Little Xion wiggles in her daddy's arms, obviously impatient to be put down. He watches how Sora holds her tighter, despite her wails of protests. He watches as Sora looks at him how once they would have watched a rabid animal, careful to see if it would attack.

Sora... his best friend... is afraid of him now.

Sora sits down as a guard pulls out a chair for him, finally loosening Xion just enough for her to sit on his lap comfortably. The three year old looks at Riku with the most solemn of expressions before glancing up at Sora, carefully judging her daddy's mood before pulling a little blue handbag into her lap. Preoccupied by watching the toddler, the two men don't talk.

There is no need to talk, both of them having questions that would not be answered in this place, nor at this time. Xion digs around in her bag, making baby talk grunts to herself as Riku speaks quietly to her father. "Sora... good to see you." He says in a weak voice, knowing just how lame he sounded. He was in prison, dressed in bright orange fatigues, and all he could say was that it was good to see him? C'mon, even Sora could tell that he didn't mean it.

Sora just smiles again. "Xion really wanted to come. She said she had something to show Uncle Riku." He says, chuckling fondly as the little girl peers up at him when he says her name. She flashes a grin with equally as white teeth as her father's before going back to her task of finding whatever it was she brought him. Riku nods, the movement causing the handcuffs to shift a little on his wrists. Sora scratches his nose, loosening his arm from the child's waist even more as he begins to relax. "Yeah, she said she wanted to show you... some drawing she did. I dunno, she wouldn't show it to me at all. She said it was for you." He repeats, keeping the conversation firmly on the little girl.

Riku nods again. He knows what it means. He leans back in his chair a little, closing his eyes as his head moves back to rest on the back of the seat. It was a silent agreement to not talk about what happened. About what he did.

About how he caused a woman to kill herself.

Xion lets out a happy cry, clapping her little hands together eagerly when she finds the drawing. She pulls out a crumpled bit of paper out of the bag, and before anyone could stop her, she crawls up onto the table and slaps it down in front of Riku as expertly as a poker dealer in Las Vegas. "This is my picture, Uncle Riku! I drawed it for you!" She declares in a proud voice, pointing down at the sheet of computer paper. He looks down and sees several spiky-headed figures, all with different shades of color. One had silver. She points to it, smiling brightly. "That one's you, and this one's Uncle Roxas, and Mister Axel, and Daddy!" She says, pointing to a blond, a red head, and a brunet respectively. Riku chuckles and pulls the drawing towards himself, observing it carefully.

For such a little kid, Xion was a very good artist. With only a few sweeps of a crayon, she had captured the different personalities of each of her unofficial family members perfectly. Sora of course, is smiling brightly and waving up at the sliver of blue sky up at the top of the page. Axel is holding someone's hand, a little girl with black hair and blue eyes. Riku smiles. Xion. Of course she would have included herself. The little drawing of Xion holds Axel's hand and waves up at the sky just like her father. They were both so hyper, even in a picture, that it was hard to hold back a laugh. Roxas on the other hand, is scowling. There are streaks of blue on the figure's cheeks, and Riku almost feels like he had been slapped when he figures out what they were supposed to be. Tears. Xion had drawn Roxas crying.

Xion hums, touching the wax-covered paper. "Uncle Roxas cries a lot now. He's sad, Uncle Riku. Do you know why he's so sad?" She asks, looking up at him so expectantly that he knows she thought he had the answer. For whatever reason, this little girl saw him as one of the lights of her whole life, and believed in him so greatly that it hurt to know that he was nothing but a fraud. Riku nods and touches the image of Roxas. "I hurt Roxas. That's why I'm in here." He says quietly.

Xion frowns. "What _is_ here?" The child demands, looking at the armed guard seated in the corner of the room curiously. The guard, unafraid of a simple toddler, just waves to her and puts his rifle back onto his shoulder. Riku knows that he is just waiting for the excuse to shoot him and scowls at the concept of it. Everyone hated him here, and for good reason. That didn't mean he had to take their crap, did it? He was a criminal, at least in the eyes of everyone else. So? The inmate looks back at the little girl and feels his rage immediately ebb away, soothed by the presence of the child. He smiles and leans in to whisper to her. She perks up and listens. "This is like a time out for grown-ups, Xion. This is where bad people go." He informs her, watching as her face deflates.

Xion sticks her thumb into her mouth for a moment, sucking the nail before looking at Riku with the greatest amount of confusion he has ever seen. He smiles; she is just so cute. "But you're good... Why are you here?" She mutters to herself, looking at the picture as if the paper itself had betrayed her and in turn, Riku. "Did you do something bad?" She asks next when she sees that Riku wasn't going to answer that question. He nods, knowing that there is no way for such a young child to understand what he did. Xion pauses, looking up at the sky as she ponders the idea in her mind.

Sora sighs. "Xion, get off the table." He scolds, reaching for the little girl. She immediately squeals, distracted from her problem by the idea of avoiding her daddy's hands. Riku grins as Xion scoots across the table and jumps into his lap, ducking under the table in an attempt to hide. He looks down as she covers her face with the hem of his orange jacket, hiding her eyes so that Sora didn't see her. He blushes slightly as she wiggles in his lap, and he feels the vibration of her giggle deep within his chest.

The guard starts to get up, obviously worried about Xion being by the hardened criminal, but Sora quickly waves at him, showing him that it was okay. The guard sits down reluctantly but Sora stands up. "Sorry, Riku. Guess she still likes you," He chuckles, nodding towards the little lump in Riku's oversized orange suit. Riku nods, still blushing a bit. He waves to show him that it was okay. After all, Xion wasn't doing anything bad, and there was no way that Riku would hurt her. First off, he loved the little girl with all of his heart, and second, he was hand-cuffed. Sora walks around the table, kneeling besides Riku's chair. Riku barely hears his muttered thought as he speaks out loud. "After all, hatred is for adults. Kids... can't understand it very well."

What true words. The little girl still loved Riku with everything she had, seeing him as a figure of both dominance and of kindness. The days of her receiving a candy or an ice cream pop from that man's hands are still there in her heart, untouched by any of the darkness that had accumulated in everyone else's. The days of when Riku scolded Xion when she had done something bad are still there, and so are the days where Xion was saved by him when she got too mischievous and fell into danger. She loved him, and despite his deeds and her lack of understanding, she saw a good person in him.

Riku groans as Xion giggles, and feels her move around in his lap and place her hands over her eyes. "Daddy can't see me!" She cries out happily, moving in closer to Riku's stomach to hide. He blushes a little hard, embarrassed by the whole show. Sora chuckles and nods down, motioning for Riku to hug her so she wouldn't jump out from his lap and start running around the room like a hyperactive gazelle. He nods, smiling to himself. Xion was so... cute. He's about to do as Sora says but then feels the little girl's head move up to his chest, more specifically his heart, and press against it. He freezes, feeling his heartbeat suddenly increase as he feels the child snuggling into his chest. She stays there for a few seconds before Sora pounces, snatching the kid right out of Riku's clothes with a triumphant cry of glee.

Riku gulps, breathing a little harder as he watches Sora hold Xion up above his head and the little girl screaming in delight. "Higher, daddy, higher!" She squeals as Sora spins around with her in his loving embrace before he tosses her up into the air and catches her as she plummets, holding her close as she laughs happily. Riku watches this with a strange look in his eyes, a longing that even he didn't understand. He touches his heart and smiles, closing his eyes. He was so happy that they came to see them.

The guard coughs in the corner, obviously wanting to interrupt the playdate. All three of them turn, confused. The man blushes slightly. "Time's up." He mutters, probably embarrassed at having sat and stared at the boisterous antics of the family members. Sora's face immediately falls, and the moment that she notices, so does Xion's in an equally comically and over-dramatic way. Riku laughs, immediately feeling that much better at having re-secured his place in his friend's heart and of knowing he is still firmly in Xion's.

Riku bows his head, hiding his pleased smile. His eyes darken with a strange emotion as he watches the little girl, and once again he has to fight back the urge to get up and rip her from her father's arms. He watches as Sora starts begging with the guard, asking for five more minutes so he could talk with him. He quivers there in his seat, and curses viciously at being bolted to the chair so he couldn't get up. Riku curses everyone and everything in this dank little prison, for not letting him hold Xion. He has to satisfy himself with just the image of her in her father's arms, when she should have been in his. Xion begs along with the guard, asking for just a few more minutes so she could explain her picture to Uncle Riku some more. The guard begins to soften at the girl's request (as well he should, Riku thinks with bitterness. How could anyone resist Xion's charms?) but shakes his head adamantly.

With a cry of dismay, the two turn to Riku and smile apologetically. Xion immediately bursts into tears, wailing that she wanted to stay with Uncle Riku. The words twist in Riku's heart, and he feels the messed up desires that he had tried to keep locked up being brought up to the surface. He feels his arms shaking with want, he wanted to hold her and make her stop crying. He wanted to bring her close and hug her, he wanted to twist her head off and strangle her, he wanted to kiss her and rock her, he wanted to cut off her arms and her legs and hide her away so no one would ever take her away from him again.

He wanted Xion.

He feels his lips twist up into a grin and he trembles with the force of his desires, and he knows they are wrong. But he doesn't care. He would do anything, everything, kill anything and everyone that got into his way for her. Xion cries harder and Riku has to hold himself to keep from ripping the handcuffs off and grabbing her to get her to calm down. He tries to think hard on the idea that he would cause serious damage to himself, and to the guard when the fat bastard got up to restrain him. There would be blood everywhere, Sora would freak out, Xion... Riku sucks in a deep breath, reminding himself that Xion would be traumatized if he hurt himself; like every three year old, she was both fascinated by blood and repelled by it.

He didn't want Xion to be repelled by him. Anything but that. Please, anything but that.

Sora quickly starts making shushing noises to the sobbing child, rocking her in his arms as lovingly as any father would have in that situation. "Shh, Xion, shh... don't let Uncle Riku see you cry!" He implores her, looking up at Riku again as if he wanted the criminal to repeat after him to get the little girl to calm down. For a moment, Sora pauses, a look of confusion on his face. It is at this point that Riku knows that he is unable to keep the rage out of his face. Instead, he just smiles, a cruel cold little smile that leaves Sora stunned and shuts him up instead of Xion.

The guard wretches Riku up, having undone his handcuffs while the two men were preoccupied with Xion's crying. Sora watches Riku as the guard starts to recuff him. The dark look in his eyes just grows stronger as Xion starts to hiccup and choke on her own snot. Chills run down the father's spine as he identifies the emotion as... but no... Riku couldn't... this was his _daughter_... Riku was her freakin' godfather for Pete's sake! But no, that lust was still there in his eyes and it seems to grow stronger as Sora brings Xion closer to him, hugging her tighter and rocking her to get her to calm down. The hatred is so damn obvious in his face that Sora doesn't know how he had never noticed it before. He shakes harder, suddenly fearing for his child.

How many times had he allowed Riku to wander alone with Xion? How many times had he begged Riku to babysit for him just one night so Kairi and him could go get some rest? How many days had Riku picked her up from Daycare and brought her to the ice cream parlor, or so he said? Sora rubs his fingers through his little girl's hair, feeling panic choke him from the force of all these questions and all of the questions he didn't dare form in his mind just in case that they actually happened. And then Sora understands. Riku's crime makes a sick, and sudden sense and it makes him cling to his sobbing child that much harder.

Naminé... looked just like... Riku's real target... the one he had been after all along was...


	23. Kingdom Hearts II: Entry

**So this is my attempt to go back to comedic writing. I apologize.**

**Disclaimer: KH is not mine, and I give a nod of appreciation to its creator.**

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><p><strong>Entry<strong>

Sora scribbles in his journal, quietly writing as Goofy is chased around the Gummy Ship by Donald wielding a flaming toothbrush in one hand and Goofy's own shield in the other. As much as Sora would have loved to know what was going on, he realizes his limitations that a, he'd probably only make it worse since Donald didn't trust him due to the whole crashing in the Jungle incident, and b, Goofy could handle it eventually. So he continues to write, occasionally asking Jiminy how to spell something or whether or not he could swear in this journal because no one else would be reading it but him.

Luckily, Jiminy totally agreed with the swearing.

_Dear Journal,_

_Hi, it's me again, Sora. I know it's been a while but I've had lots to do lately, you know rescuing Kairi and Riku, saving the Princesses, defeating the Heartless and Nobodies and all that fun stuff. I'm getting pretty good at all of this. Anyway, I figured I should fill you in with all the up to date information, giving you MY side of the whole thing since Jiminy's got the whole get the fact straight thing down in his journal._

_I mean, ever since Namine did her little witchcraft voo-doo thing with my mind back in that Castle (still... fuzzy on that...) I want to make sure that I'm the one who remembers what happened. _

_So uh, Journal (or can I call you Bob? I've always liked that name) I guess I should start filling you in. Sorry for writing on your face, but Jiminy says it's good for me to be able to write my thoughts down. I think he thinks I'm Pinocchio and stop reading over my shoulder, I told you that no one could read this but me! … Conscience my big red short covered- Okay, okay! I won't say that one. Hiney. Dammit, I hate being in an E-rated game!_

_Anyway, just last week I was in the Coliseum. Yup, you heard that one right, I was in the Olympic Games. I felt pretty awesome. So uh, it all started when we met up with Hercules again (he got a girlfriend! Ommygosh! She's so pretty. :D) and found that there's a whole new tournament down in the Underworld. Of course me being the awesome person that I am (just kidding, that's Riku's job to be all... what's the word? Snobby? Egotistical?) wanted to run down there and get signed up. And so we did after we found some guy in black running away (Okay... that was weird) and got back the golden thingy that lets us not die down there. I really like the golden thingy. Oh, medallion? That's what it's called? And now I feel stupid, thank you Jiminy. … He said I'm welcome. _

_So we signed up for the Pain Cup and we kicked butt, as usual. Heartless or Nobody, they couldn't beat the amazing power of Teamwork!_

Sora pauses here for a moment, biting the tip of his pencil before scribbling down a few more lines.

_On an unrelated note to the concussion I got from slamming into one of the walls by a Heartless, I can now taste the color purple. Goofy is insanely jealous and keeps giving me purple things to try. Donald says to stop lying. Like it's **MY** fault that purple doesn't taste like grape. You'd think so but it actually tastes like lime sherbert. Which is awesome cause I love ice cream. … Roxas says to note that sea salt is the best, bar none and that I keep misspelling words. … Shut up, Roxas._

_He started it, Jiminy! Tell him to get out of my head!_

_Anyway... We finished up that tournament, I beat Leon and Yuffie... again... and I realized something. Why don't they ever help me? I mean, they're super badass (sorry!) warriors, right? So why don't they ever just pack all their stuff and get in the Gummy ship with me? … Roxas, it's not because of my foot fungus, that was cured. … You try wearing size seventeen BRIGHT YELLOW shoes and not get foot fungus when you're running through freakin' water INSIDE OF A WHALE. … Yeah, I thought so. Shut up. I think I won that argument, one point for Sora! :D_

_And seventeen for Roxas. Dammit. I'm catching up though. _

_Oh yeah, I should probably explain who Roxas is, Journal, since you haven't met him before. Roxas, say hi. He says hi. Isn't he polite? Roxas is my other half. My Nobody. That word is so sad to use, he's not a nobody at all. In fact, he's voiced by Jesse McCartney. … Roxas says to get on with it. Okay, so apparently I got turned into a Heartless during my first adventure (and no one thought to ask me whether or not I wanted to) and by losing my Heart, I created two Nobodies. One of them is a girl. … Roxas likes her. OW! He hit me! He mind hit me!_

_I'm telling Jiminy on you, Roxas. … I don't care if he can't do anything, he'll tell you off. He's my conscious. So anyway... I have two Nobodies – wait, what? I don't? But you said that Namine was created through me. … Oh. Okay, if you say so Roxas. Roxas is so smart. Apparently I was a condiet (conduit?) for Kairi's Heart, and since she's a Princess of Heart with no Darkness in her, she used MY heart to make Namine. So Namine is like... Kairi and me's kid. … COOOL. I'm a dad. Should I pay child support? OW! Stop hitting me, Roxas! … Roxas says to put that Namine is in no way my child, that I'm not a dad and that she is simply Kairi's Nobody made with MY heart because Kairi's has no darkness in which to create a Heartless with. _

_He's just mad that he's macking on his sister._

Sora, despite how quiet he had previously been while writing, suddenly sits up straight and lets out a very loud yell. Donald and Goofy in the midst of their toothpaste on fire battle turn to look at him as the Keyblade Master slams his head into the wall, yelling at someone called "Roxas" to stop being a jerk as Jiminy starts pulling on Sora's hair to cut it out and to be nice to each other. Within a few minutes (and one black eye later) Sora manages to calm down and talk to himself nicely, scowling as he picks up his pencil again and keeps writing.

_You started it, Roxas._

**Did not.**

_Did too and I win because I'm the hero._

**Never wanted to be the hero but I'm still a better one than you. :)**

"Both of you cut it out!" Jiminy snaps as Sora stiffens up in his chair and looks warily at the little cricket. There is a moment of suspicion between the brunet and the insect, one in which they glare at each other long enough to peer into each other's souls. Sora sighs before twirling the pencil in his hand, managing to spin around his thumb with the skill of an expert gunslinger before writing down one last phrase in his journal.

_Namine liked me first. :3_

Sora is thrown to the ground as an invisible force (or maybe just himself) starts strangling him, causing Donald and Goofy to run over and pin the boy's hands to his sides before he hurt himself too badly. Sora wiggles violently in his friend's grasps, spews out a few garbled words that sounded like he was possessed or seriously pissed off at himself, and then just lies there with a weak breathing pattern. He sounds like he had just been forced to hike in the countryside with bags of weight on his shoulders, and he had already done that in the previous world so they knew what they were talking about on that aspect. Sora mutters softly to himself, smiling slightly when Donald puts a Gravity spell on him so he couldn't move.

"Two points for Sora..."


	24. Disney Based: Poor Unfortunate Souls

**Er... this is um... well, it's a single chapter of what might end up being a serious fanfiction based on the little mermaid. Of course, being me, I love the villains so I made this the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" bit of the fic. There will be other chapters like this so if you don't like "serious buz'ness," you may turn away now. **

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts and the Little Mermaid do not belong to me, and I am just silly to make up my own versions with the KH characters. For those who want to know... **

**Song: Poor Unfortunate Souls: (Little Mermaid)**

**Youngest Princess/Little Mermaid: Kairi**

**Sea Witch: Original Character **

**Prince: Sora**

**King Triton/Daddy: Ansem The Wise**

**Other Princesses/mermaids: Princesses of Heart**

**Youngest Brother that is mentioned: Roxas**

**It is BASED on the song, therefore they are not singing. That's for the "Kiss The Girl" chapter I will eventually do. Heh. Hope you enjoy this!  
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**Final note. This is happily dedicated to my friend LockePhilote for giving me suggestions on it, and to Henvdemon of the Heart for inspiring a bit of it. Thanks guys, you're both awesome.  
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**Long chapter is long. I warn thee now!  
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><p><em><span>Poor Unfortunate Souls<span>_

She swims through the dank water, her blue eyes darting around her surroundings in sheer fear. For all merfolk in the Western Kingdom, this place underwater is completely off-limits. Off-limits by everything but her father's law, even. It was common sense, really. No fool is idiotic enough to go into the Dark Waters, or so the saying went. But Kairi is a girl on a mission, and perhaps just foolish enough to go.

With that thought in mind, the youngest princess of the West swims faster, her powerful dorsal fin flicks in the water, propelling her forward even faster than she normally could swim. Her tail does all of the work, moving her body along in an S-shaped motion, her upper torso following her dorsal fin's movements. As she inches forward, the ocean around her slowly turns blacker, as if someone had liberally applied octopus ink into everything. The fish start to be less colorful, some even turning a dark shade of purple that the young Kairi had never seen before. The plants start to be a sickly dark green, as if they were suffocating under the intense pressure of the Dark Waters' miasma. Even Kairi herself begins to feel affected, her body weakening as she moves forward. Her heart feels heavy, as if it had suddenly become made of the poisonous lead that her father destroyed every time that the substance had the misfortune to come into his kingdom.

She feels weak and tired, like she had come all this way for nothing. Why had she come? The thoughts swirl sickeningly in her head, making her feel dizzy. Kairi had come for something, and she remembers what it is but what was the point? She just wants to curl up in the gray sand below her and sleep forever, never waking up from fantasy into the grim reality she now faced. The redhead touches her cropped hair before remembering what she came for, remembering the way that she had seen that expression for the first time. Her beloved's face appears in her mind, and for a moment, her head clears. She shivers, looking into the eyes of a black fish as it swims lethargically past her. It looks empty, and cold and she had very nearly fallen into the very same trap.

The witch's power is truly very great.

Kairi, her strength bolstered by her realization that her weakness is nothing more than a spell, swims on, and her bright lavender tail glows in the darkness of the Waters, giving light to all those who seek it. Those she swims past suddenly remember the things that they have lost, and some begin to find the strength to dig their way out of the graves that they had dug for themselves long ago. Others do not find the strength, instead recoiling from the Princess's light like a merfolk would from the darkness. Their golden eyes seek the light, but they are repelled by it nonetheless.

They remain heartless.

The young Princess pauses at the entrance of a cave, remembering the words of her eldest sister Snow. They are the warnings given to every child that passes into adolescence, like she had only a few years before. _'They say the witch lives in a cave at the very deepest part of the Dark Waters.' _Kairi touches her hair, remembering how her sister had been brushing it as she spoke of the story. Particularly sensitive to the touches of Darkness, Snow had shivered even at the mention of the place. '_She lives in __a cave at the deepest part of Dark Waters, where only the monsters live. But they do not bother her, for __the sea witch is much more powerful than they are. Only the heartless beasts and the nobody betrayers are buried there, and they are her kingdom and her servants. She can make your wishes come true... but only in exchange for the most precious thing you own...'_ Her older sister had paused here before weaving a pearl flower into her little sister's bright red hair. Kairi had been watching her in the mirror and had noticed the way that her sister's normally cheerful eyes had darkened with sorrow. If she had been human, perhaps she would have been able to express what she felt. But she wasn't human, and so the young Kairi did not understand. Snow had picked up her brush again and kept working on Kairi's hair. _'Never go there unless you have a sincere wish to lose everything you've ever loved, Kairi...'_

"The most precious thing..." Kairi murmurs to herself in the present, not knowing just what exactly she would be able to give up. She clutches at the thick chain around her neck, the metal pressing deeply into her pale hand. The silver crown seems to glitter in the darkness of the Waters, and she knows what exactly her most precious thing was. The young Princess, made an adult by the desires of the heart, swims into the cave, unafraid of what exactly she might encounter thanks to the bravery of love.

It is cold and dark inside, and it is much more inhospitable from the miasma. Even knowing that it was only a spell, Kairi's strength begins to falter again and her swimming becomes slower. Her tail stops flickering in that erratic way it normally did, as if sensing that something was wrong in the water. The miasma of the spell is heavy in the princess's lungs and she goes much more slowly. Oh, it is not from fear for she is unafraid. It is not from caution, as she does not understand it. It is from hope, as the flames of desire within her begin to burn brighter from the sheer hope of getting what she wants. As she moves forward, Kairi's hand trails across the cave wall, feeling the cold stone beneath her fingertips with the air of a dismally lost child. When a sudden hotness sparks between her fingers, she recoils, letting out a surprised gasp. She looks to her hand, and upon seeing the thick blood beginning to trickle into the water, she covers it with the other.

As a child, the most fearsome thing that ever haunted her nightmares was a shark attack. The predators are merciless, unrelentingly hunting down whatever was bleeding. This is among the first times Kairi had ever been injured... the other times were when she was a child, and she had been immediately bundled off to a safe location where a shark couldn't get to her. She hides the cut, looking around in fear that a shark would suddenly appear and then gulp, off with her head.

She hadn't even seen the witch yet.

Kairi swims faster into the cave, knowing that she probably only had a few minutes at the most. Panic fills her and she swims into a small hole in the wall. She can practically feel the creature's teeth on her shoulders, and she shivers in fear as the imagined threat of a shark's shadow looms in her mind. She is afraid now, and Kairi now clings to the black stone walls as if it was the safety of her mother's arms. She trembles harder, holding her injured hand as dry sobs shake her body.

She doesn't want to die. All she wants is to see the witch, to beg her for help... Kairi touches the crown-shaped necklace at her throat, and her strength begins to ebb back into her body, despite her fear. The metal is cool to her warm hand, and it makes her feel better. Knowing that it had been around the boy's throat... and knowing how brave he was gives her just that much courage. She lifts her head and looks into the darkness of the cave before her, her eyes shining with the power befitting a princess of the West Kingdom.

She can almost feel her father Ansem's hand on her head, the gentle way that he would caress her cheek and tell her in that loving voice not to be afraid. If she had been human, this would be the point where the tears would have begun to trickle down her pale cheeks, the warmth giving her strength to keep moving forward. She is her father's child, after all, and the King never would have curled up into a ball and cried._ 'Do not be afraid, Kairi... they will never hurt you, not as long as I'm still here.' _His voice says in her mind, giving her the last bit of comfort she needs before she lets go of the necklace. She is an adult now, grown up and without the fears of childhood that she had once allowed to cripple her so terribly. It is with the same strength that her father possesses, the same strength that Ansem the Wise had passed onto all of his children, that allows Kairi her next motion.

"Get a grip, girl..." Kairi tells herself as she moves forward just a little bit. It is a baby step, nothing significant... though it feels like it to her. As if in response to the movement, a low chuckle emerges from somewhere ahead of her and sends chills running down her spine. For a moment, she forgets how to breathe water even though she had been doing it since she emerged from her egg sixteen years ago. The voice is cold but curious, and very strange. It calls to her, telling her that this was the person she had been seeking since the night she realized she fell in love with the human. "Hello?" Kairi asks weakly as the voice chuckles again.

This time, it is full of warning. It is just as dark as the waters that surround the princess's body at that very moment, merciless and cold.

Nevertheless, Kairi swims forward, presenting herself fully to the witch, wherever she was. The pearl flowers in her hair and the oysters pendants on her tail glitter in the darkness, proving her rank as the seventh child of the King. Hidden in her place among the rocks, the girl can feel the witch's eyes narrow on the symbols of her heritage. "You've come a long way, Princess," the voice says after a few minutes of silence. The girl can only nod, marveling at the exotically deep voice of the witch and how different it seemed than her own high-pitched one. It is almost a man's voice, but somehow not, since the full sensuality of the witch's sex is so obvious you could practically break a clam on it.

The voice is silent again and so Kairi takes it as a sign of approval and swims forward, her eyes looking around the now small cave she enters. She slips through another opening, now so obvious as an entrance that she doesn't know how she missed it before. This room is full of shelves, all built into the walls and filled with items. From her scavenging of sunken ships, Kairi recognizes a few human items, like the strange bound things full of pages made of that weird paper. Books, she remembers as she reaches out to touch one of the spines. There are gold letters on the book, and they read a name. "Anderson's... Fairy Tales...?" Kairi says to herself when the voice chuckles again.

There is yet another emotion present in the voice, this time amusement. Kairi flushes scarlet, letting go of the object and turning around. She is still alone in the room, but she knows that the witch could see her very well. "Sorry... I won't touch them." The Princess promises, tucking her hands behind her in embarrassment. She wants to make a good impression on the witch, why she didn't know but she does know that she needed the witch to like her. The witch says nothing, but in front of her, a purple seaweed curtain begins to peel away from the wall, revealing another doorway.

The Princess swims through quickly, not sure if the witch's good will would last long enough for her to ask her question. Snow had warned her that the witch was extremely volatile, even downright insane when it came to her emotions and the wants of others. The witch is curious about her, that much is true, but would she be willing to help?

Kairi pauses in front of a large bed of black kelp, suddenly confused. Where was she? The bed is empty, save for a large cloth that was on it. Curious on it, the Princess picks it up, and nearly falls over from how heavy it is. Clearly an object from the human world, it had absorbed the water around it until it could barely be lifted. Even so, the fabric is soft and warm to the touch, making Kairi want to run her face against it from how nice it feels against her skin.

A hand presses against her shoulder and Kairi lets out a hysterical scream. She whips around, her heart hammering in her chest from the sheer shock. The girl who had grabbed her blinks slowly, her dark brown eyes full of some unrecognizable emotion. She looks normal, as if she had just been waiting there for Kairi to show up. There is almost no doubt in the Princess's mind that this was the witch but she hadn't expected her to look...

"So normal?" The girl asks in a quiet voice as if she had read her mind, a smile briefly appearing on her lips as she turns from the Princess and picks up the blanket she had dropped. Without any sign that it was heavy, she throws it onto the bed and sits down in a very delicate sort of way, like she had been trained how to do it since her childhood. "Were you expecting some kind of octopus or something?" The sea witch asks curiously, her deep voice going up a few notes out of amusement.

It actually takes Kairi a few seconds to realize just what was so different about the girl.

Her eyes drop to her legs, and she watches as the sea witch crosses them at the ankle. The Princess's breath stops in her throat as the witch settles herself on her bed. She knows she should look away, this was probably rude but the witch's legs are long and thin, and oh so pretty. She realizes once again that she could have legs like that and she grins happily, imagining how it would be like to feel the sand between her feet, not her fins but her _feet_! Oh, she's so happy!

"You're human!" Kairi gushes in excitement as she drops her gaze to the girl's feet. Strangely for someone considered a monster, she has delicate features all the way down her body and Kairi remembers that the little fingers on the feet are called 'toes' or something similar. The witch tucks her feet beneath a part of the blanket that hangs over the bed and nods.

"Once I was human." The witch corrects in a quiet voice, and as she spoke her legs begin to glimmer with a soft purply light. Kairi swims back a few feet as the brown legs are enveloped in the light. With fascination, she watches as the shins suddenly snap together, molding to each other. A growth of dark brown scales begin to inch their way up her flesh, and the feet that Kairi had been so excited about elongate and thin to a paper-fine fin. "But not now." The witch finishes as she floats a few inches above the bed now, her previous weight now gone and replaced with the airiness of all merfolk.

The girl turns her gaze away for a moment before swimming idly to a shelf on the wall. Kairi watches as she plucks a bottle filled with a bright red liquid from the shelf. The label is faded with age, but apparently the sea witch knows exactly what it is because she then tosses it into Kairi's direction. Startled, the princess cries out and nabs it before it could drop to the floor and possibly break. Water reduced some weight but not all, and so the seventh princess cradles the ancient bottle to her chest in shock.

Kairi has to suck in a few more breaths of water before she can calm down over the sudden assault. She had been taught that all things were precious, sacred in some cases, but here was the witch just flinging things around like they were nothing. And human artifacts, too!

The witch's fin twitches when she notices the younger girl's glare. For a moment, she looks amused before her smile fades into an irritated scowl. "Get out. You've gotten what you wanted. Pay me later, don't come back until you win the heart of your little prince." And with that, the witch drifts lazily back onto the bed and throws the heavy blanket over her fins.

It seems that Kairi had been dismissed.

Kairi only looks at the bottle, recognizing it as the kind that some human drink called wine came in. It is sealed with a much newer piece of coral, showing that the witch had either drunk it or drained it and then refilled it with whatever this potion is. "'Win the heart of your prince...'" Kairi repeats to herself before the reality of what it was suddenly smacks her in the face.

A love potion! The witch had given her a love potion!

"Does this work on humans?!" Kairi demands eagerly, swimming up to the bed and kneeling on the sand besides it. The witch's body twitches hard, as if she had suddenly been shocked by an electric eel. She sits up immediately, her brown eyes hardening to black.

"Humans?" she demands, an irritated grimace suddenly appearing on her face. Kairi nods nervously, not understanding the look that the witch was now giving her and she begins to clutch at her heart. The girl pauses for a moment when she notices the gesture, biting her bottom lip in a way that would have drawn blood, her hand stroking the side of her face in silent contemplation. A sickly sort of smile cross her lips and she grins. "Why, my dear sweetheart!" She declares before throwing the blanket off of her, swimming over to Kairi and threading her arm through the Princess's with the same kind of familiarity that Kairi's own sisters would never dare use.

"Why my dear sweetheart! You should have said something! Now that is a completely different story!" The witch says in a much more amused voice, flicking her finger against her cheek in a caring gesture. Kairi blinks, her face flushing at the bizarre treatment. So many of the other merfolk were terrified to even be in her presence, the might of her father being so powerful. And yet this witch was unafraid... because she didn't need to worry about the King attacking her...? The witch giggles in a cheerful way, her eyes darkening as she pulls Kairi towards the shelf where she had gotten the first bottle of love potion. She loosens her grip on Kairi's arm and pulls a large book from the shelf, placing it in her lap and beginning to flip through the pages so quickly that a stream of bubbles began emanating from the book.

Kairi curls up into a little ball, watching the witch as she frowns with concentration. She pauses on a page, looking up at Kairi with that same sweet smile. "Princess, the only way for you to get what you want... your man..." She says in a questioning voice, looking much more friendly when Kairi nods eagerly and hugs her heart in such giddy happiness that it is almost impossible not to smile at her. She is so full of hope, just so full of hope... The witch flips the page, pressing her finger against the image of a merwoman floating in the middle of the page. The drawing's head is thrown back and her lips open as if she was singing... or screaming. Strangely enough, there is an eery resemblance between her and the Princess, something in the eyes of both girls that seems so bizarre and familiar. "The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself." The witch licks her finger, turning the next page idly as if what she had just said wasn't earth-shattering news.

Kairi recoils, feeling the intensity of just what the words mean slap her in the face. Human? Become a human? How was that even possible? She could... become human. An image rises in her mind, an image of the boy she had fallen so deeply in love with and he holds his hand out to her. A burning sensation fills her body, her body trembling in want. She could become... just like him... She takes in a deep breath of water as she imagines it, having legs just like those human women, of being able to walk on the sand like a human... of being able to be on a boat just like she's always dreamed of...

Just like... the Prince...

"Can you... do that? Turn me human?" Kairi asks weakly, the hope within her making her float a few more inches than she normally floated, she was just too excited. The witch nods and smiles even more widely.

"Why my dear sweet child... this is what I do. This is what I live for, challenges like this." The girl says in a voice that suddenly makes her seem about a hundred years older than she actually appeared. This semblance of intense age is emphasized by the twisted half-smile present on her face, the hidden sorrow within her brown eyes, and by the way that she moves so slowly to do as the Princess before her commands. There is a secret tale within the woman's heart, something that she remembers from her own life... a moral to be learned, perhaps. But whatever the moral is... she would not reveal it today. The witch snaps her fingers, the gesture making a loud cracking noise underwater when it should have been absolutely silent. From some hidden spot in the stone walls, bottles of goodness knows what begins to float out towards Kairi.

The Princess yelps in surprise, obviously shocked to see some inanimate objects with the ability to move by themselves. The bottles, each one sparkling with some bizarre powder or liquid, dance around her, circling around her head as if they were a swarm of the tuna fish that loved to follow her when she swam in her father's gardens. One particularly daring bottle clinks gently against her temple before jumping back up into the water and swirling just above her reach. They swirl even faster, moving around the girl's body as the witch stops on yet another page.

She smiles.

There is a moment of silence before the witch begins to speak again, her eyes closed and her smile sweeter than even the most delicious of candies. "Why, I'll admit that in the past I've been rather nasty," The girl says as one bottle with bright green contents suddenly floats over to her, plopping itself down on her hand neatly. "It's been said that I'm nothing but a witch." She pops out the cork, peering inside at the green powder with a thoughtful look. After a few seconds, she pours out the sparkling green dust into her palm, making a small pile of what almost looked like sand in her hand. She raises her hand to her lips, closes her eyes for a moment, and blows it out around the Princess with a strong exhale. The dust swirls around Kairi, clinging to her skin as if glued there. Kairi screams, feeling the dust press harder against her flesh, like it was trying to burrow into her and go into her body.

The witch licks her finger again, and turns the page. "But this is what I do, help poor unfortunate merfolk like you." She tells the Seventh Princess in a quiet, low voice and her shoulders roll back as she leans onto the wall, her hard black eyes staring at the girl with an amused sort of hunger. "After all, you have no one else to turn to... no one but me." She says as two sets of hands suddenly curl around Kairi's waist and fins, pinning their long nails into her flesh and she screams again, feeling the sharp stab of what felt like needles or even flames go into her. Her entire body shivers but the girl does not struggle out of the creatures' embraces, feeling her body slacken against them as if she was falling into her lover's arms. The dust... Kairi winces, trying to move but her body still remains limp and beyond any last bit of her control. The dust... had done this...?

The witch glances behind Kairi and chuckles in amusement. "Flotsam, Jetsam, behave both of you." She says in a very fond voice, giving whatever was holding Kairi down a little wink as if she was trying to scold them but didn't have the heart to do it properly. A pair of twin giggles emerge from behind the Princess, sending a series of chills running down her spine like parasites were crawling across her flesh. Flotsam... and Jetsam...? Kairi tries to look behind her, if only out of sheer morbid curiosity to see what the heck kind of monster that the witch had made to be her servant. But no, her head would not work with her neck and she remains completely still and with her gaze firmly on the witch. The witch smirks coldly and another much larger glass bottle appears before her, suddenly snapping itself into existence despite all logic or reason that should have denied it from doing that.

Bottles zoom into place around her, each one popping itself open when she reaches for it and pours its contents into the empty jug-like container before her. "Now here's the deal. I'll give you a potion that'll turn you into a human. But there's a price, and we'll talk about it in a minute. You'll have one year-" She pauses as she pours a few drops of a black liquid into the glass bottle and momentarily seals it, picking it up and shaking it vigorously, mixing all of the ingredients together as best as she could for that stage of creation. "One year and that's it. You have that long to get a kiss of love from your little man." The witch grabs a floating tin from the air, plucks something that looked suspiciously like a human tongue from it and crushes it in her hand, pouring the juice into her concoction. "If you do get the kiss, you'll be human permanently. On the final day, if he hasn't kissed you and if there wasn't any emotion of love in this kiss, you'll turn back into a mermaid." She pauses again, sealing the bottle and mixing it up again. She smirks and looks at Kairi, her cold gaze making the girl's breath catch in her chest and stay there as if it was hiding from the intensity of the witch's eyes. Kairi is frightened, much more frightened than she had ever been in her life and for a moment, her mind shuts down as the witch finishes her comment. "And if you turn back into a mermaid, you belong to me."

Belong... to this witch...? She would never see her brother and her sisters again, never be with her father... She can see her little brother's happy face in her mind, the cheerful look in his blue eyes, the eyes that she shared with him and her older sisters Ella and Alice. Her family was all that she had in the world, her one precious thing... Snow's warning echoes in her mind and Kairi raises her head, her eyes taking on the steely appearance of her father's.

"And the payment?" She demands in the same way that her father had once spoken to the witch about her powers, in the same way that the old King had demanded her head after he found out about what she could do. It is the same voice that ordered her banishment from the Western Kingdom after the death of the Queen. The witch smiles at the memories, sweeping her black locks behind her ear as she drops one last ingredient into the bottle. It begins to foam, turning a bright emerald green before shifting into purple and then to pink. "It's nothing really, just a trifle. What I want is your voice." She says calmly, as if she was talking about the weather or even just the currents condition.

Kairi stares at her, wondering if she had even heard her right. Her voice? How could she give her her voice? Kairi pauses, looking at the bottles being propelled through the air and knows that if the witch says she could do something, she could probably do it. The witch grins, giving her a bored little shrug. She is already getting tired of the whole business, and Kairi could tell from the way she was beginning to look past her and at the two things holding her back.

"If I give you my voice...?"

"Well, your voice is the most intoxicating voice in the world. It will soothe me," the witch says honestly enough, shrugging again as she snaps her fingers. The two creatures suddenly drop Kairi, allowing her to fall slowly to the floor of the cave with a soft thud. "And anyway, even if you can't talk, you should never underestimate the power of body language, my dear." She chuckles and winks teasingly, running her hand over one of the creatures that had swum up to her. Kairi recoils at the sight of it, recognizing it as... no... it couldn't be... the corpse of a child, bloated and purple with age, nuzzles up against the witch's hand and kisses it, its lips crackling in a way that in no way a child should ever make with any part of its body.

They... were both...

The corpses of the two children, a boy and a girl, sit down on the floor underneath the witch, their gray and rotting eyes peering up at her in animalistic adoration, as if they were the pets of the girl above them. As if in response to these expressions of love, the witch holds out the bottle of now bright red liquid, idly swirling it in the bottle as she presents it to the Princess. The expression on her face is almost taunting, as if she was daring Kairi to take it or as if she thought that the girl was afraid and would run away than take the chance for what she wanted.

Kairi is afraid.

But she holds her hand out anyway, suddenly finding the effect of the green dust had disappeared or at least, didn't affect her ability to raise her arm. The witch swims over, her fin trailing gracefully in the wake of her movement, and she very quietly places the bottle into the girl's hand and curls her fingers around it. Without even pausing to think about it, Kairi pops the cork out and briefly wonders how the heck that the liquid was even able to stay in the bottle before she puts it to her lips. She closes her eyes as she feels the creature called Flotsam swim behind her and wrap his fingers around her throat. There is a moment of brief pain as she swallows the liquid down, drinking only enough to fill her mouth before she swallows.

It doesn't matter anyway. A single gulp is enough for the full effect of the potion to take place, it was all she needed to become what she wanted. As the girl crumples for a moment, her hand clutching at her stomach, the witch wretches the bottle of her grasp and bends down to whisper to the girl.

"My dear, if you want to cross the bridge, you'd better learn how to pay the toll. I would start swimming."

The Princess's eyes widen just enough as she realizes what she had done, and as the oxygen she now needed begins to run out.


	25. Birth By Sleep: Keyblade Graveyard

**I have issues. I wanted to cheer up. **

**Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep is not mine.**

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><p>"I went astray – but no more." He says finally, turning from his friend as he looks up toward the gray sky of the Keyblade Graveyard.<p>

Her next words are quiet, almost inaudible except for the pain that each one contains. "What else is Darkness but hate and rage..." Her hands curl into fists and her dark blue eyes close, as if to hide her emotions from her lifelong friend. "Xehanort is feeding the dark fires within you - making you fight. You'll go astray again."

The girl looks at him without any trace of anger in her eyes, simply shaking her head as she asks her question. "Tell me. How does that honor our Master's memory, Terra?" Aqua asks, holding her hand out to her friend. Terra says nothing, the guilt obvious in his features. He _is_ guilty, and he knows that. Aqua does not need to tell him...

He looks up just as their third friend, Ventus, walks up. Ven's footsteps echo loudly on the compacted dirt of the Graveyard, each of his steps seeming remorseful and sad. The boy seems conflicted, abnormally troubled for the happy-go-lucky boy that he had left behind in the Land of Departure. He begins to speak as soon as he reaches them, as if he couldn't let the words stay inside of him. "Xehanort wants me and Vanitas to fight, and make some kind of 'X-blade'." He informs them, looking at the ground rather at his friends.

Terra snorts. "That is one stupid name. X-blade..." He says, chuckling under his breath. Ven blinks, looking surprised before Aqua jumps in. "Terra! … Look, Ven, we're talking about Terra right now, can this wait?" She asks kindly, turning her now razor-sharp and pissed off glare back on the wielder of the Earthshaker. Terra immediately takes a few steps back, shaking his head and looking at his friend in silent reverence.

"Aqua, wait, let's talk about Ven's problem, it sounds a lot more serious-!" He starts to say before the Rainfell appears in Aqua's hand. The boys' eyes widen in sheer shock and more than a little fear before Aqua slaps the taller boy across the face with its head. "Shut it, Terra! You already killed Master Eraqus, we need to make sure that you don't go after anyone else!" She exclaims, throwing her hands up into the air and accidentally knocking Terra over on his backside and sending him sprawling into the dirt.

Terra groans as his rear slams into the hard dirt, letting out a few curses as Aqua covers Ven's ears. The younger boy looks unamused and sighs, shaking his head. "Look, all I'm saying is that... I'm scared. I don't want that X-blade. So... just... if it comes down to it... put an end to me." Ven says as Aqua's jaw drops. She immediately turns to Terra.

"_Look what you did._" She snarls, pointing at Ven angrily. Terra glares at her. "What **_I_** did?! You should be going after Xehanort, not me! I had nothing to do with that!" He snaps back, starting to get up if only to yell at Aqua from eye-level. The Keyblade Mistress crosses her arms on her chest, scowling. "Oh, like it's not your fault that Ven is suicidal! If you hadn't left, none of this would have happened so it's all **_your_ **fault!"She says before turning her nose up into the air, obviously done with the conversation.

Ven blinks once, looking up at his friend in confusion. "I'm not suicidal... I just don't want to be a X-blade." He says honestly, giving her a shrug. She immediately hugs him, snuggling into him just as a parent would to comfort a crying child.

Terra growls, his once calm features going into rage. Now that was a reason to go into Darkness, Aqua's damn nagging! "Now wait a minute! You're saying that everything that's ever happened to us is **_MY_ **fault?" He demands, jumping to his feet and grabbing the girl by her shoulders. She looks into his eyes, peering into them for a long moment before nodding once.

"How the hell is that fair-?!"

"I'm with Terra on this one, I say we blame Master Xehanort-"

Aqua flips her hair away from her eyes, turning to both boys in turn. She pokes them in the chest with each of her index fingers, looking more than a little annoyed. "You're both grounded. Two weeks in the Land of Departure, no saving the worlds and no TV." She says finally, using her authority as Keyblade Master over the two Apprentices to take control.

The results are not surprising.

"TWO WHOLE **_WEEKS_**?"

"Aqua, I'm older than you are! You can't ground me!"

"You want to make it three?" She demands, glaring at both boys before they take a step back and grumble quietly to themselves, obviously pissed at having been grounded. Terra looks more than a little ready to mutiny, while Ven just looks annoyed.

"... Is this a bad time?" Master Xehanort asks, glancing at how all three kids looked ready to kill each other. Technically that was supposed to be his job, wasn't it? Vanitas snorts, giggling softly under his helmet as Aqua slaps Terra on the shoulder when he tries to step forward. She turns to them. "Terra and Ven are grounded, they can't fight you. Come back in two weeks."

As the kids leave, each one jumping onto their respective Glider, Master and Apprentice stare at each other, obviously not knowing what the hell they were supposed to do now.


	26. Dreamdrop Distance: Riku's Got Your Back

Mild spoiler for Dream Drop Distance, this is my argument for one of the cutscenes.

Enjoys!

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><p>Riku's Got Your Back<p>

"He's always picking up the slack for me," Sora says with a kind smile, laughing cheerfully as the comatose King pauses for a minute.

"You mean the guy who tried to kill you, went on a two year voyage in order to control his dark impulses, barely managed to do it and is now stealing your place as a main character? That guy is always picking the slack up for you?" The little mouse asks, somehow knowing the results of the future despite being the alternative past self of the King that Sora had known through his adventures.

Sora blinks and stares at the mouse, watching him for a moment as his arms wave around in a conductor's sort of movement. He scratches his cheek, beginning to frown. "... You... kind of... have a point there..." He starts to say, wincing a little bit as he thought about it.

Hadn't he done a bunch of stuff on his own already? He had rescued the Princesses (not just one but SEVEN) that Riku helped kidnap, he saved like twenty different worlds, he defeated most of the Organization AND Ansem the Seeker of Darkness... He knew how to fly a Gummy Ship (kind of), had learned how to use magic and how to fight all on his own without the help of Riku's stupid sparring... and then he learned how to fight when he was basically powerless. When Riku himself had stolen his damn Keyblade. But they were friends... he didn't mind sharing the spotlight as main character, he'd already shared it with his Nobody and with those weird Birth By Sleep guys...

"You mean the guy who basically left you to rot while he went off to look for Kairi, which by the way you were already doing and could have totally needed his help for, always has your back? The guy who had the balls to suggest that you were a traitor when he was working for one of the most evil characters in Disney history? When he was working for someone who very _literally_ calls upon the powers of hell in order to fight?"

Sora laughs nervously, putting his hands up defensively. "Uh... o-okay, let's not go too far, your Majesty..."

"The person who left you behind in order to go into the-"

"Alright! I'll go get the second Sound Idea, you just stop bad mouthing Riku!" Sora shouts angrily, turning back to the pages of the music book he had just exited. He readies his Keyblade, about to cast another spell to let him back into another part of that strange cloud-covered, colorful world.

"... What about Kairi?"

"DAMMIT, MICKEY!"


	27. Kingdom Hearts2: In Search of a Fanfic

**In Search of a Fanfic**

The girl leaned back in her chair, her brown eyes narrowing slightly on the laptop that lay haphazardly on her brother's desk. As if understanding its mistress' silent rage, the computer quietly turned off its screen and fell silent. Even the surprisingly cheerful music about ghostly children waiting in order to gather up souls and kill their victims couldn't make the authoress smile.

For this authoress was a girl named ForbiddenKHFan216, otherwise known as Forbidden or even Biddy. And she was pissed the hell off.

"Alright…" She muttered quietly before grabbing her mouse and dragging it upwards. The computer clicked back on and Forbidden went back to scrolling down the website. "Alright, so I just found like, ten pages of yaoi fanfics… doesn't mean they're _all_ yaoi or yuri, right?" Forbidden said with a soft sigh, daring to hope that perhaps she was wrong.

Maybe she was wrong and there was actually some good adventure fanfics on her site. She could use a good adventure, even a comedy. She could definitely read a horror. Hell at this point she'd read one of the yaoi ones as long as it didn't hammer Riku's or Sora's or Axel's, or the heavens forbid _Xemnas'_ or_ Vexen's_ fictional… er… 'members' in her face!

"'AxelxRoxas, RikuXSora, KairiXdeadrat. ... couldn't say I didn't see that one coming, to be honest... DemyxxZexion, XemnasXSaix… uh… Namine with everyone in the … entire game, what, _really_? That's a thing?"

After a few minutes of talking to herself and reading the various pairing names out loud, she got up and picked up a silver PVC pipe that had been designed for a cosplay she had never finished. Forbidden hoisted it up on her shoulder, turned around and walked back to her computer. Despite having been blathering to herself nonstop for the last hour she had been searching for something to read, she was completely silent as she lifted her pipe up past her head.

The poor computer really had no idea what it had coming.

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><p>An ordinary day on Destiny Islands was a simple routine.<p>

Everyone got up at about dawn, walked together down to the docks to see off their fathers (or brothers or even uncles sometimes) off when they went to work on the fishing boats, and then went back home to eat breakfast. Sometimes the islanders got together on the docks and waved to their loved ones as they sailed off. That usually happened on festival days, when the fishermen would be back well before their normal dusk quitting time to enjoy their half-day off with their families.

There was really no reason to complain about the routine, unless you were one of the three kids that had stayed up all night smacking trees around.

Riku leaned on Sora's shoulder, half-snoring as he lifted up a hand and waved weakly to his relatives climbing up a ladder to their family's boat. Kairi leaned against Sora's other side, sleeping peacefully against the young Keyblade master's chest. Sora himself was snoring but somehow able to wave his hand in a half-purposeful good bye. "Bye… don't forget to write…" He mumbled sleepily as he dozed against his best friend's head. After a moment, his father turned around and saw the sleeping teenager.

With a devilish grin that perfectly matched his goof ball of a child's, Sora's father went into the captain's cabin, grabbed a chain hanging from the ceiling, and yanked that son of a bitch like he was trying to win a gold medal for yanking chains.

A loud, horrifically loud, just absolutely terribly loud noise that could have woken up even the deadliest and most asleep sea monsters from their watery graves blasted through the horn. The deep screech made everyone on the dock jump and slam their hands onto their eyes, save the three that were half-asleep.

The only thing that the three kids did was look up, yawn, and then settle back against the tree Sora was leaning against and back onto each other in a little ball of warmth. "Oh for crying out loud!" Sora's father complained as he glared out his window at the sleeping trio.

Wait… a second…?

His eyes narrowed as a girl – who most definitely didn't live on the island due to the black coat and baggy jeans that no self-respecting island girl would wear – appeared behind the tree with a long silver pipe in hand. She turned to look at him for a brief moment before lifting her pipe-wielding hand up and bitch-slapping Riku with all the force she could muster up.

With a startled scream, the silver headed teen smacked his head against the tree, slammed into Sora's cheek, knocked Kairi over, and then finally sent all three tumbling into the sand with such a loud clatter of noise that Sora's dad could hear it all the way on the boat.

"All the fucking fanfiction's your fault, Riku!"

"Go to hell! Go bother Axel, Maria!"

"You know what, I just might have if it wasn't for the fact that _you're_ an asswipe! This is all your fault, you're why I can't find a damn adventure _WITHOUT YOU SHOVING GERBILS UP SORA'S ASS AND KAIRI AND NAMINE MAKING OUT IN IT!_"

"This is the first time in a long time you've inserted yourself in one of your stories... _AND YOU CHOOSE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME HAVING SEX WITH SORA?!_"

"No, I'm choosing to complain that I can't find something to read that doesn't have you and Sora boning, you and Roxas boning, you and Axel boning! I don't want to read about sex! I want an adventure or something gruesome! Is that too much to ask?! I think what I'm trying to say is... _YOU ARE THE WHORE OF THIS SERIES AND THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT_. Find me something to read and maybe we wouldn't be _having_ this conversation, emo boy!"

Sora's dad quickly decided that he didn't want to know why Riku and the girl were yelling at the top of their lungs about gay sex, lesbians, and his son. There were just some things a father never wanted fully described to him.

And gerbils, he found out, were his limit.

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is no way mine, and I apologize for the slight OCC of Riku in this. <strong>

**... I feel better now. I'm gonna go back to trying to find something to read.**


	28. Kingdom Hearts: Snow Day

**Mentally preparing myself for winter. Already wearing my comfy jacket. :D**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is in no way mine.**

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><p><span><strong>Snow Day<strong>

The girl glances at him shyly, her dark violet eyes filling with some unknown emotion. The boy's face turns a bright scarlet, his gaze dropping down to the envelope she was holding in her hand. She delicately reaches forward, pressing the paper into his fingers and folds them over it. Briefly, she closes her eyes and she begins to speak. "I'm sorry... but... I don't... feel the same way..." She murmurs and the boy notices that the handwriting on the envelope was his own.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! _Dammit_!" Sora shouts loudly, making Riku jump about ten feet from where he had been reading a book on the couch. The startled Keyblade Master stares at Sora as the younger boy shoves his hand into the popcorn bowl, scoops up about half of the remaining kernels, and shovels them into his mouth.

"What happened...?" Riku demands, turning his gaze onto the screen to figure what the heck had happened between the two main characters that had freaked Sora out so bad.

Sora sniffles as tears dribble down his face, speaking as the two characters onscreen walked away from each other for what was probably the last time they would ever meet. "Momo... and... Haichi... they're destined for each other, man! What the heck's wrong with this show?!" Sora cries out with a mouthful of popcorn, making about every third word he said garbled and unintelligible.

Unless you spoke Sora, and only about three people in all of the worlds knew how to do that.

Riku sighs, picks up his book, looks out into the snow-covered dunes outside, and groans. "We've got cabin fever," He mutters to himself, glaring at his friend as he reached for the remote and clicked the TV off. Sora immediately lets out another wail, this time for being cut off from his precious soap opera. "And you especially!" He snaps as Sora settles back onto the messy couch, pouting as he swallowed his popcorn.

"It's not _my_ fault we're stuck inside." Sora mutters in an obvious pout, folding his arms across his chest as he glares at the television. The screen remains blank but from the serious way he kept staring at it, he was trying to turn it back on with his mind. And he was failing.

Riku throws the remote across the room, slamming his book shut. "Sora, it's your fault. You were the one who said _'Oh, let's find out who can throw the biggest ice attack the highest in the air. It'll be fun!'_ This is completely your fault!" He snarls, pointing a finger angrily at the falling snow outside of the house. Sora glances out the window, pausing for a moment before shoving another handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"You're the one who said you could throw a bigger one."

Riku rolls his eyes, slamming his hands into his forehead. "How much longer until the snow plows come?" He demands in frustration. He jabs a finger outside. "I mean, the snow's barely to the top of the windowsill! I'm sure we should be able to go outside soon!"

Sora looks out the window, watches as the snow piles up past the window and then up towards the roof. After thinking for a moment, he finally has his answer. "Er… I'd say another hour?" He says with a shrug.

Riku rolls his eyes and goes back to reading.

Sora doesn't have the heart to tell Riku that they were on the second floor.


	29. Kingdom Hearts II: Bad References

**Er... I'm weird?**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is in no way mine and neither's anything I happen to reference.  
><strong>

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><p><span><strong>Bad References<strong>

It had started off like a normal conversation.

Xigbar had smirked as Roxas's face turned first into a bright scarlet color then to a pale parchment and the bastard had been snickering as the younger Nobody immediately opened his mouth to protest. _'Nah, nah, nah! This place is so damn boring, we need some damn excitement! Romance is exciting, you make your move on 'er!' _Or so Xigbar had said.

Make a move on her, a lot easier said than done in the little Nobody's opinion. Xigbar was a ladies man, somehow getting older women falling for him left and right despite the obvious handicap he had in the shape of a missing eye and many scars. He was a verified badass and villain, nothing like the heroic golden boy that Roxas was. But he had wanted excitement, so Roxas had to provide it for his superior officer in the Organization.

He just wished that Xigbar hadn't had the brilliant idea to get him stupidly drunk to do it.

And now it came down to this. Taking another swig out of the flask that Xigbar had handed him, Roxas stumbles down the halls of Castle Oblivion, trying his best not to fall over. Liquid courage, he said. It'd help him get the girl, he said. Roxas, despite how little he could see from the sheer potency of the booze in his system, could tell that he reeked like alcohol. And shame. Pure utter shame that he needed alcohol to tell a girl that he wanted to make them the official pairing of the series.

As he muses to himself about the benefit of destroying all the alcohol in the entire solar system, a quiet, angelic voice speaks to him. "Roxas?" Naminé asks softly, staring at him from underneath those pretty and delicate eyelashes of hers. She closes her sketchbook and gets up from her seat. "What are you doing here?" She asks curiously, eying him with surprise.

Roxas blinks once and opens his mouth. He knows that he has one shot. Just one shot. He just has to be romantic. Like in the movie with the ship everyone saw for Movie Night in the Castle. He has to be as romantic as physically possible for a Nobody and dammit, he has to say something soon before he throws up! Without even saying a word, he collapses onto his knees and grabs her waist, saying the very first thing that popped into his drunken head.

"Naminé, I want you to draw me like a French girl!"


End file.
